options, options, options...

...or choices, choices, choices

ok so this next week is going to be pretty big for me, i'd really appreicate your thoughts and prayers.

i have decided about to do next year:

* do i stay i as feel i should, with no way of funding my self, just trusting in God, and therefore going against my parents wishes

OR

* do i go back to england and go to uni, which i dont really want to do, but my parents and tom (sorry i had to name you) think is the option what would make sense, cos of degree n stuff

now normally id go straight with what i feel called to do (and to be honest thats proberly what i will do) but i know how my parents feel and it feels slightly wrong! i guess we can agrue you it out tomorrow.

so whats God being doing recently:
*defining who He is in me and through me
*expanding my calling - which im pretty stoked about btw!
*making me think hugely.

so whats purity and intergity? what do they really honestly mean...how i can live a God filled life all the time, living up the calling in places such as Romans 12, James, Ephesians etc. the high standards of moral living, and what is a high standard of moral living in todays standards, so much has changed, that it makes this calling all the more important to live up to, and set the standard for. what we called 'good' today would have been considered totally wrong back in the day. so i guess that meta ethics for you, what do words actually mean...

i know God's calling me to be different, to stand out, stand up and to go against the flow, but what does that look like, and how do i pick myself back up when i fail and fall so short of the standard God has placed in my life. Ive been set apart for a purpose but do i fulfill that to my ful potential or am i just getting by? how do i increase my capcity..

Purity - FREEDOM from adulation or contamination, freedom from immortality especially of a sexual nature.

Pure: wholesome. authentic bright, classic, clear, complete, fair, flawless, natural, neat, perfect, plain, real, simple, straight, total, transparent, true, twenty-four carat*, unadulterated, unalloyed, unclouded, undiluted, unmingled, unmixed, unpolluted, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, untainted, untarnished,
blessed, blameless, celibate, chaste, cherry, clean, continent, decent, exemplary, fresh, good, honest, immaculate, inculpable, innocent, inviolate, irreproachable, kid, lily white*, maidenly, modest, righteous, sinless, spotless, stainless, true, unblemished, unblighted, uncorrupted, undefiled, unprofaned, unspotted, unstained, unsullied, upright, virgin, virtuous, wide-eyed

Purity in relationships stems from having a pure heart, and should automatically be a consequence of having a pure heart = the two should go hand in hand. But purity is a lifestyle not just one part of our life.

-Psalm 51v 6-7 - purify means? do we fully understand the signficance...
-Psalm 86 v 11 - pure heart, are we honouring God?
-Psalm 119 v 9 - obey
-Matthew 5v8 - pure heart = seeing God
-Colossians 3 v 5-17 - change in the way we live
-Ephesians 5 v 3 - are we living up to God's standard? (read around this oen too)
-Galatians 5 v19 –26 - To have self control is to have purity – because you guard your heart. You will not inherit the kingdom of God if you are impure.
-1 Timothy 4:11-13 - called to set the example
-Psalm 119 v 1-3 - blessed with joy when you have intergrity

Gods calling for us to be pure in everything we do. Once we have pure minds and pure hearts he can work fully through us, and use us to advance his kingdom. A pure heart, means integrity in all areas of our lives, guarding our minds, tongues, actions, be careful about the company we keep, the music we listen to, the things we watch.

Intergity is purity across the board in all areas of our lifes, where am i slipping up? what areas have lowers standards then other areas? would i want people to follow my example and go my path?

so what does this mean for me? i guess making all areas of my life have the same high standard that im trying to reach. relationship wise:
*treating family and friends how they deserve to be treated, being open and honest and caring for them
*lads - well i cant date woop, but what signals am i giving out regardless. i have some amazing friendships with lads that people might seem to precieve as odd, well im sorry contiune to precieve it as odd, i do honestly with my whole heart feel God has placed me with these people for a reason, and we bond cos we are meant to, and yeah i will continue to speak into their lifes and love the pieces, christian or non-christian.
mindest wise:
*telling girls they are beauitful etc etc you know good old youth group stuff, but then not actually believing it for myself causes a huge issue, even if i do honestly think they are beauitful etc etc. so where do i go from here.. theres a tons of issues to deal with, one step at a time i say!
*prayer, worship and word - to keep it up no matter how busy, i have had some of the most amazing prayer times this week, because i created space out of the busyness from a pressing on my heart, yet when im not so busy they dont seem to go down as well.. funny that huh! so yeah thats got to be kept up.
* im sure ill think of more when its not midnight! so keep your eyes peeled on this section..

God keeps making me read and re-read proverbs 1,2 and 3
proverbs 1 v 20 - 25 says
'Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
She calls to the crowds along
the main street,
to those gathered in front of the
city gate:
''How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish
your mocking?
How long will you fools hate
knowledge?
Come and listen to my counsel.
I'll share my heart with you
and make you wise.
I called you so often, but
you wouldnt come.
I reached out to you, but you paid
no attention.
You ignored my advice
and rejected and correction I offered.'

feb...

a lot has happend this month even though its only the 13th day!

1) I had to shift my scheudle and time with Tom around because denai and amy need me now on a wednesday lunch time, so i started helping out at the lunch club and also we started to help out at the games mini on a friday afternoon which is awesome. we are allowed to openly advertise a cafe at uchapel on a friday night. last friday the cafe started up and we had 4 students from uhill which is pretty amazing! Please thank God for this and pray that the start to really connect with the youth at uchapel and bring their friends.

2) Lawrance the senior pastor of PGCC annouced hes going somewhere up north that i cant spell, in march. he will be missed, but im sure him and roseanne will be blessed greatly up in that place i cant spell! Please pray for them and for the church as we transition.

3) The weeked that started on friday the 2nd feb was a busy one. we had a youth ice cream cake - for my birthday - and they got me a cupcake - loads of icing- and a bag of carrots! my repuation goes before me! on saturday i went snowtubing with Ali, Rose, Scot and Brent - who showed up 4 hrs late due to lack of telling us about the dentist; he was having his teeth cleaned for 1hr 30 mins. we then had noodles in a box..photos to follow.. we loved tubing and want to go again.. anyone up for taking us?? we ate a cupcake with tons of icing on it with candles on it - in the car on the mountain minus Brent who then complained!
'brent you've got something in your teeth' ... followed by mad rush to scotts left wing mirror to check his teeth followed by 'no i havent i havent eaten anything yet'... On my birthday anne and dennis took me to dim sum and then to a place with 218 ice cream flavours after church.. i am now old - 19. arghh! i got so cool pressies:
*english chocolate of Brent and Ali - they brought it when i was there teeeeeheee
*sunday times newspaper and more english chocolate and a sweet necklace off anne and dennis
*sweet tee-shirt - animal- from becky. and i assume colin..?
*mini photo holder and nail files from rhiannon
*luggage tag off dom
*money - it more then doubles into dollars wooop, writing paper, bag, bracelet, necklace of mum n dad
*money from grandpa ware n auntie alice
*switchfoot ticket from an amazing youth
*galaxy and glow sticks then i choose from tom, liz, joel and ollie :)
cheeers everyone!

4) last week i lead the team, although denai was sick :( it was cool! i enjoyed it wooop. rebekka came to help us on friday so that was fun!

5) a strange lad called brad came to stay lol, he will prob be coming more often cos he works downtown but lives somewhere crazy and hes anne and dennis nephew. its not uber exciting but if i ever talk about him thats who he is lol

6) i attended bc student forum this weekend and got to hang out with christian business men and women! it was amazing and on clarity in busyness! extremly helpful, would deffiently go again! i had to dress up smart to go to the vancouver club ha ha

Please Pray for..
*finances - i need to know if i can stay on a second year by the end of feb, and thats dependant on finacing. i feel i am not meant to return home, but please pray for clarification and peace over the next few weeks.
*intergation and intentional relationships with students n youth
*my mum, lucy, dom and rhiannon are in uganda for 10 days - protection, revelation etc they can be a help to janet, rich and jac, and eyes will be opened
*becky n colin as they prepare to get married and have to attend church every week.
*laura and paul as they embark on the marriage do dah but for longer time.. a year in july
*dan as hes in taiwan
*dad as he flys to american for business, and plans to travel to new zealand and canada in march

i think thats all

best place ever.. isnt it beautiful...



heres what me and rose where up to in dec/jan..
Despite lack of blogs the roses havent withered and died, they are infact blooming. we have been very busy due to the up and coming event somepeople call valentine's day; roses this time of year are very much in demand, but we would love to tell that we are expanding into new areas such as a gmail account and a card company called one short designs. This hints at the busy lifestyle we have been leading, however you will be surprised at the amount of things we have managed to fit in.


December...
*pais christmas party.. rebecca b pulled all stops and spent more the the $5/$1 dollar allowed for gifts, creating some stress while playing swap the dollar gift.. but we all love rebecca so we forgive her
*we where painfully seperated across the big bad blue wet thing for 2 whole weeks

Jan...
*OneLife...www.onelifeyouth.com. amazing, got to see and spend time with Brent and Chad
*walked over Burrad bridge in a hurry to get to the cinema to see James Bond with Mr. Brent White. We where late due to one of the roses lack of navigation skills, but we made it in the end. James however looked distorted. One lucky clone was paid for.
*MissionsFest... come to my reeecccuuuusssseeeee.... im so excited.... reunited....bum bum tish tish. we got to hang out with Brent, Chad, Scot and Adam - from texas pais :) we added to our canadian friendship circle with Scot, who's pretty neat but wipes his bottom on his sleeve when tree planting.
*Fresh... Paul Gibbs and Adam blessed with their presence and made sure we hadnt burnt down Canada. Paul seemed amused at the joint blog and e-mail account... i wonder what he thinks now we have 2 and a company...

jan...

So guys I am uber sorry - please blame Sam C for the use of this word hes inflicted it upon me - for the lack of updates for the past few weeks, so im sorry if this takes a logn time to read and theres suddenly loads of posts from me!

Jan..

Jan started well with the meeting with the Well as you should know! It was amazing month, very busy, but im glad that everything happened and it worked that way! It was pretty awesome to be honest.

We had the privilege of Paul Gibbs and Adam (from texas) coming to spend a week with us. Adam spent a day with the Westside team, which was fun even though he cheats at card games! I was glad to have him however as he carried the coffee pump from the well.. slightly ironic i had help both times when i had to carry a single pump, now we get two, and i havent had any :( )

While Paul and Adam where here Missions fest happened, and we helped with the youth rallies and the young adults one, its was pretty neat and lots of fun, however some annoying band called rescue got stuck in the paisers heads not that they are talented but you can only take so much.. come to my reessscccuuussseeeeee, im so exicted..reunited... so missions fest was early mornings and late nights because guess who turned up, yep thats right brent (hes like a bad smell in a good way i guess) and when pais and him get together theres normally some late night meal at the end! so we went out both nights with him and scot, the first night rebecca, rebekka, ali, rose, scot, brent and i went to martini's and the second night, brent, scot, rose, ali and i went to dennys on the NORTH shore! cos brent wanted to drive through stanely park.. i guess we cant complain huh!

Paul came to talk at Utown on the sunday which was awesome, Tim Horman loved it! and maddie, kyle and sam got to play in the worship band. People where interested in the vision and in Pais and ive had lots of loverly comments since then! Paul, Tom and I then went out for lunch,.,. could Paul start marty.... ermmm...

We then one and half days of intense training from Paul, Rebecca and Adam mostly on post-modernism and how that fits with Pais, and lots of exciting changes that are going to happen! wooop!! watch pais' space!

Dennis created so amusment this month as he found youtube and posted a video of chloe! why i dont know, ask him, if you want to see it search for chloe dog hockey... its not that interesting to be honest, i would prefer to put up a video of them west coast swing dancing but they seem to practise when im out and attend dances when im busy :(

Jan was a busy month for the youth leadership team - well kris and i and tanis on the night. i had the crazy idea of doing a 'posh' 3 course meal to get the youth in the church talking to the leaders... we didnt expect 40 people to show up! yep! it was a sucess! we hope! so me and kris had a busy end to jan, leaving all the shopping - trip to costo, baking/cooking and setting up of the church until the day of the event! however i think we pulled it off with minum stress and we had tons of comments about how nice the meal was! soo i guess that works huh! we searved salad and posh bread with olive oil and balsmic vin. for starters, then a roast beefer with mash, peas, carrots, trees and cauliflower for main and then lemon tarts (we cheated and brought already done bases and packet lemon filling - we did have to mix stuff to make that tho!) and ice cream for pudding. then griffians anvil played! wooop!!!!!!

over and out and on to feb...


(pic of my house in england)