My How the Time Has Flown

It's almost been 6 months! Wow. For those that have been checking for an update, my apologies. Christy and I flew out to Abbotsford and spent Christmas in Chilliwack with my mom, grandparents, brother (Kerey) and his Korean girlfriend, and saw some other family. It was good to be together as a family and to see my brother for a week.

Mom has been home in Nipawin since the end of February. Shortly after she came back, some of my friends graciously dug a pathway, through snow that was a few feet high, from her garage to the road so she could use her car. Her car started on the first try after sitting for quite a few months.

Mom and Christy spent the next few weeks planning Christy's wedding. Her and Nathan Harris were married on March 22nd in Nipawin. The wedding was awesome and it was good to see all kinds of family and friends again! Christy and Nathan are living in mom's newly renovated basement suite while they search for a house to buy in Nipawin. They spent about a week in Cancun, Mexico for their honeymoon.


I'm busy working full time with a man with mental disabilities. I've been working with him for nearly 16 months. I'm also mentoring a 12 year old boy with FASD once or twice a week. He's really fun to work with and we've been in this program together for 17 months. I lead and host a men's small group every week. God is doing amazing things through this group of young men! We're committed to spending time in prayer each week for each other and our church. We want to be godly leaders in our homes, churches, and community. Other than these things I like to spend my time reflecting on God and his goodness, getting to know people deeper, planning a trip to Europe, and I hope to be rollerblading really soon.

My plan for Europe is to land in London in early September of this year and spend the next 3 and a half months meeting people and sharing God's love across most of Western Europe. A friend and I plan on ending our trip at the pyramids in Egypt in mid-December. Pray that God will lead us to people who need to experience and hear about God's love for them. We are really open to where God would have us go and are not booking ourselves to be certain places at certain times. The plan is to stay at some family, friends', strangers' places, and some YWAM bases if we can. Pray that God would work out all the details.

God bless you with peace and joy today as you reflect on who He is!

Facebook

Well it's apparent that I have lost the "blog bug." A new internet fad has drawn me away from the world of blogging. It's called "Facebook." I said I would never join but deep down inside, I knew I eventually would. When I did join, I was immediately enthrauled and was tantalized by the array of things to do. From posting unlimited pictures, to blogging, to rating movies for your friends, to sending gifts, to connecting with old high school friends, Facebook has it all. I would like to post on here every once in a while, so check back monthly.

My mom flew out of Saskatoon on October 12th. She landed in Abbotsford and was picked up by my grandma and grandpa, who live in Chilliwack. Mom plans to come back home in early March.

The Nip

I hope to have more time in the winter to keep up this blog. For now this will work. So we have moved 2/3 rds of mom's stuff to the new house in Nipawin. It is a really nice home. We hired a guy to paint upstairs and do some renovations in the basement. I helped him rip off the wall panelling in the living room and kitchen downstairs. I pulled a lot of carpet and linoleum off floors throughout the house. We took 2 small half-ton loads of junk to the dump. The upstairs is painted and looks great. The downstairs should be done by the end of August. I'm excited to see God's plan unfold for mom in Nipawin. I'm curious to see what will happen. I will try and post some before and after pics up here sometime. Anyway.....must get some sleep before work.

Time and Change

Wow, time is a funny thing. When you get busy, it seems like you don't have enough of it. This summer has been crazy. I love it. I dread winter. My mom sold her house in North Battleford and has purchased one in Nipawin. She takes possession this weekend so we are going to start getting her moved in this weekend. I think it will be a good change for her. She knows many people that live there and feels comfortable with this decision. I haven't seen the new house yet so I'm looking forward to this weekend. Praise God for His faithfulness in blessing mom financially and for His timing in this, it is (as always) perfect timing (even though we had our doubts). Why do we doubt God? He takes such good care of us.

A Blessing

So I was moving someone's furniture today. It took an hour and a half and it came time to collect the money. I told the guy how much it cost and he said, "oh, i'm ten dollars short." I explained to him again how long it took and how much I charge and he again said he didn't have enough. Then he suggested we could go to the bank. I told him, "you know what, it's not worth it. Don't worry about it." A couple of minutes later I was waiting in line at Subway in a Mac's Store. I looked right beside me and there was four $20 bills sticking out of the ATM with nobody around. I grabbed the cash and right away decided it wouldn't be right to keep it. I got out of line at Subway and went over to the Mac's counter. I said, "I found this money sticking out of the bank machine with nobody around." The lady behind the counter responded, "ok, write your name and number down and we will call you next week if the money isn't claimed." That sounded alright to me so I followed her instructions. I went back in line at Subway and about a minute later this lady came up to me and touched my arm. "Are you Kevin?" I respond with a nod and a "yes." She slipped a $20 bill into my hand and said, "thank you for being so honest," as she was walking away. As I turned around to pay for my sub, the manager told me that she was buying my sub for my honesty.

Isn't God amazing? Out of compassion I took $10 less for a job and in return I received more than double that. Praise God for His faithfulness.

Life and Purpose

Life is a beautiful thing. It's a gift. Everything we do matters. Every breath we take is because of something. Our heart and our lungs work together. Thousands of things all work together at the same time in our bodies. When they don't, our bodies cease to function properly and we die. And this is by chance? This is by some cosmic explosion that randomly happened and produced life. It produced, over time (of course), everything in our bodies that works together so intricately. No. Not this guy. I believe in a Creator God. I believe I was created to fulfill a purpose, as we all were. I won't take no for an answer. I won't listen to your pathetic excuses. Live your life and do as you please but remember, remember this: you are here on earth, your lungs cause you to breath and your heart causes your blood to flow, not because that is what they are supposed to do, no--it's much more than that. You, yes you, were created to fulfill a purpose, a plan. You better find out what the plan is and start living it out.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
-Jeremiah 29:11-13

The "Why's?"

I've been struggling with a lot of "why's" lately. I could use some prayer. I know that God is good and that He is amazing. He has done so much in my life this year, that could never be denied. But I am human and so I ask "why?" I don't understand everything, "'for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." I have no doubt God will bring me through this but I still need to answer the "why's?"

Life

I've discovered a new fad on the internet--it's called Facebook. It's just like Myspace except I know 3 times as many people on here. I still want to keep up this blog but as summer is really busy I won't be posting as often. Hopefully one post a week or so. The radio ad for my business comes out tomorrow on Free 100.3--Saskatoon's only Christian radio station. It'll be playing five days a week during the two rush hours of the day, between 7:30-8:30am and 4:30-5:30pm, so tune in! My life is pretty fast paced right now with work and play. God is teaching me patience (as always) and that He will use me no matter my inadequacies. Pray for me and the people I encounter each day that do not know of God's grace. God is good!

Focus

Sometimes it's so hard to stay focused. Sometimes all I see is what my eyes allow. My mind and my spirit know there is more but my vision is so limited, so it seems. Throughout my year at PRBI (2005-2006) I was spurred on to think about and focus on eternal things rather than temporal. It seems that year was planned for me to prepare me for February 28th. Although, you can never be fully prepared for the loss of someone so close. But my eyes wander; they don't always see the Truth. The pain is a nagging finger tapping me on the shoulder forcing me to look back and see what I've lost. It won't let me face forward and look up to the heavens.

I said I was going to post some writing I've been working on. I can't yet. It's too much right now.

Friends In High Places

Well, there was sun and fun in Alberta. The weather was good. I would say the average temp. on the weekend was about 15. On Thursday we went for a bit of an adventure along a creek. Friday brought garage sales and lots of 'em! Brendan and I hit up 20+ sales in Grande Prairie and spent only about $20 each. His trunk was full of treasures. I came back with a scratching post (for my roommate's cat), a camping stove and lantern (both run on propane), a can opener (Brendan's can opener is better but he paid 50 more cents for it...hehe), and Deer Hunter II (for PC). It was rather disappointing to find no DVDs, deep socket sets, or more camping gear. I knew I would know what I was looking for when I saw it, but I didn't see much of it in GP. Oh well! It was fun to drive around and look at what kind of junk people thought they could get money for. On Friday we also hung out with a couple of mutual friends. Saturday brought some hard labour. About an hour northeast we met Brendan's dad to help him put axles and wheels on a mobile home he had bought. The only problem was it was sitting on wet, soft ground. Turns out it took us the whole day to get it mobile. It was good to be able to help a friend. I didn't mind the workout. All in all it was a great trip and it was so good to see Brendan, Jared, and Jer.