I have been greatly influenced by a couple of verses in Romans as of late. I will start with the verse of my awakening.

"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed." (13:11)

This is the time for me to come out of my spiritual dormancy, to clutch the robe of Christ with both hands and cry out for mercy. For I have been the worst of sinners, grieving the Spirit of God daily by refusing to humble myself and submit to Him. He is near,and if I do not seek His face now, what will I do when the powers of darkness rule? I have been blind to my own spiritual pride, but now the blinders have fallen like great scales from my eyes.

"The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." (13:12)

What contrast there is here! The dark oppresses, disillusions, blinds, and alienates. Light, on the other hand, frees, reveals truth, offers sight, and shows us that we're not alone.

"Let us walk properly as in the day time, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." (13:13&14)

We are to walk "as in the daytime"--not only when it's day. No, we walk when it's dark.

This is night--that orgies, sexual immorality, sensuality, quarreling, and jealousy are exalted daily on television, in movies, novels, magazines, and music. This is night--that no man can win a legal battle against anyone who practices sexual relations that are not natural. This is night--that thousands of people die daily because of the lust of the flesh. And this is night--that the name of God is spoken with mockery and disrespect. No, we must learn how to walk during the day so we may be able to do it at night, to the glory of God the Father.

As a Christian I am guilty of walking only when it's day, when I know I cannot fall. I think I am doing Christ a service when I walk at all, but where is the faith when I can rely fully on what my own senses are telling me at the moment? It's when I cannot see that walking brings glory to God's name.

And now I have a decision to make. Do I walk when I am confident that I can, or do I walk when my way is hidden from me? Do I resist God and provide for the flesh, or do I resist the flesh and provide for God? Now is the time to awake from this dream and become alert to the lessons of God.

In all of this I must remember that it's not people I am fighting, but It is "against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". (Ephesians 6:12)

The battle is just beginning.

Sleep doth not cometh

Wow, I just lost the hearing in my left ear... okay, it's back.

Well, it's late, and I can't fall asleep. I've had a good day... Sara and Sarah came to visit us, and it is quite a pleasant change. I've missed my "sister"!

God's been putting his hand heavy on my heart, and I just can't seem to quiet my thoughts. I was convicted about my complacency today. If God's going to use me, then I must rid myself of all impurities. It seems like my perspective's been off as of late. I've haven't been doing devos and praying for the right reasons. I think I forgot that this relationship is focused on God, and not myself. It was a good reminder, one I hope not to forget too soon.

Ahhhh... I think I should try to go to sleep. I can hear the night crowd outside whistling to eachother on the street, so it would be a good idea to sleep before I hear something I don't want to.

Bye for now.

Migranes and fuzzy scarves.

So, I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a fuzzy plaid scarf wrapped around my neck. I had a migrane, and now it's gone. I'm heating up hair curlers that I found at my auntie's house, we just put in the movie Gladiator, and the Rough Riders have once again disappointed me. That's about all right now.

Andrea is busy.

For someone who's doing nothing, I've sure got a lot going on.

Let me explain. I've got until the middle of October until Rescue College starts, so there's a lot of time on my hands. When I moved from Manitoba so early, I thought I'd be incredibly bored with nothing to do here. Not so! I think I have been dubbed the official housekeeper of the Porter household, which doesn't bother me at all. I think I need the discipline for future reference!!! I've been having a grand old time doing dishes, decorating, and baking cookies!

I've also been given the opportunity to make a little mula. My uncle George used to have his own Model Car shop, but he got out of that business a couple of years ago. Now he has hundreds of model cars all over his house (well, more accurately in the garage and in his office). He plans on having a grand car sale--one that Regina has never seen! Any devout car-collector would know that paying $90 for a car is a steal compared to the normal $150. He is selling the cars at wholesale price, which, I hope, will attract a lot of people. Normal garage-salers will think that my uncle has lost his marbles for selling something for so much at a garage sale. Anyways, he's given me the job of taking all the cars down, dusting them off, screwing them back on their stands, boxing them, and pricing them. It's a big job, and he's paying me hourly! Sweet! Oh, and I get to work with my favourite cousin, which is a bonus.

I'm also going to be employed this next week at Souls Harbour Rescue Mission. They need someone to answer phones and do filing, mailing letters, etc.. It's the kind of job that comes pretty easy to me... except I try to stay away from phones. But, yeah, I'm getting paid by the hour as well.

Also, my aunt and uncle are going away on a 10 day trip to Las Vegas. They need someone to house-watch, and I'm the person for the job. Once again, I get paid per day.

Oh, and my dad was talking about paying me to clean the house. I think it may have been a joke... but that would be nice if it happened.

Well, now the shower's free, and I must be off pretty soon.

Bye!

God speaks!

I am going to share with you a passage of scripture that encouraged me tremendously this morning. When you read it, think of it as God's specific message for you. He is talking to you through these words, and it's not just some ancient literature. He's got a message in this for you.

Isaiah 55

1"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

2"Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.

3"Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David.

4"Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.

5"Behold, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you."

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

8"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord.

9"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

10"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11 so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter foir which I sent it.

12"For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

13"Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."

God's word will not come back without accomplishing what He wants it to accomplish. Amen.

how much wood would a wood chuck chuck...?

Well, it's been a while! Do you know what it's like to get into a writing slump? Yeah, well, that's what I had. I just didn't want to do it. Now I feel completely overwhelmed because there is so much stuff to catch up on!

The first news, and of most importance, is that I am no longer living in Manitoba. I followed my family to Regina on Tuesday this week, and I am happy to say that I finally feel at home. It was extremely hard to leave MacGregor... namely because of leaving my boyfriend, all my close friends, and my other "family" there. But it was a necessary thing at this time, and I'm glad for the chance to spend some quality time with the rest of my family. You never know how much time I'll get with them after this year...

Secondly, wasn't the Banjo Bowl disappointing? I mean, come on Rough Riders, you should know how to catch a ball. And the Ref? Well, He should stop making up his own rules when he doesn't know what the propper call is. It was my first CFL game ever, and there wasn't even any competition between the teams. There was plenty between the fans, though. You see, it's only they crazy Rough Rider fans that travel to all the games. They were all dressed up in green and white, and, yes, some were even wearing mellons on their heads. Doesn't that just invite criticism?? It was a good experience, nonetheless--the people I was with made up for the shortcomings of the Green Team.

Third on my list... My aunt got West Nile! GASP! This is the kind of thing you read about in the not-so-trustworthy newspapers! Yes, folks, it actually exists. She had all the flu symptoms on top of always feeling like things were crawling on her. I'm not sure of the rest of the details, which is a good thing for you readers. What I find really funny, though, is the person doing follow-up with her from the Hospital. He phoned her with a list of questions, just to make sure she had fully recovered. When he got to one particular question, he stopped himself and said, "Oh, I guess I don't need to ask you that, because you're obviously alive." What was he going to do? Ask a corpse a question?? Why is that question even on there if the follow-up questions are meant to be directed to the infected person? I just have to laugh... and hope that it doesn't reflect on the quality of health care people receive.

Well, that's my rant for today. My foot's loss of propper circulation is informing me that it's high time to get off my butt and start doing something productive.

The end of camp = crash and burn

Well, as of today, I am completely finished working at camp for the summer! I can hardly believe how fast it went by... and yet it felt like time stood still when I was there. I would like to share all my camp experiences, but I think that's going to have to wait until a later date. I am so exhausted and sick that I don't think I would make much sense anyways. Now that all the adrenaline and responsibility is gone, I think I am going to crash and burn for a couple of days. But, not to worry, I will be back to my usual blogging self. Take care!