Good Bye Metro Transit!

It is official! Ryan and I are the proud owners of a 2002 Ford Focus ZX5 Hatchback 4 Door. This isn't a great picture of it, it was one Ryan took quickly yesterday to show his Dad, but I thought I would share it with all of you because even a not great picture is better than no picture at all. This car is such a blessing from the Lord. There are several reasons why it is.

1. We would never have had the money to purchase a car ourselves, but Ryan's Dad was so gracious and decided to give us an early graduation gift, knowing a car is quite necessary for us on our internship.

2. Ryan had been looking and looking since we got here for something in the price range his Dad gave us, and everything was really old and crappy, but this is newer than anything else we had seen and is in really good condition. Plus, it was 2,000 dollars cheaper than what the Blue Book average said we could expect to pay for as car that old with that many miles, etc., etc.

3. Not only is it everything we need, but it's alot of what we want too. The Lord didn't need to bless us like that but he did. I guess that's why they're called blessings :)

Okay, here are the details: It's a standard, or manual if you prefer to say it that way which Ryan really wanted cause he finds it more fun to drive. I don't know how I'll fair with it because some of you may know I still don't have my licence yet, (I know, I am a sad individual), and to learn on a stick, I don't know, but Amy Smith, I am looking to you. You conquered the stick shift and I am using you as my inspriation to say I can too :) (P.S., I wish we could have hung out more at beulah) Okay, back to the features of the car. It has power doors and windows, air conditioning, cruise control, a CD player, and the seats fold down in the back so you can fit more things in which will be great for us and all the stuff we transport to church and youth. And I'm sure there are more features that I don't even know about yet.

It's got a good history too. It was owned by a doctor, then he traded it in, and the guy who sold it to us, his wife dove it for awhile, but she is getting a new Jetta, so she gave it up. It has a fair bit of kilometres on it for it's age, but they were mostly highway miles, or so the guy says, although I know, I know, you can't really trust a used car salesman, although we think this guy may be the dealership owner from the way he was talking. Anyway, we are really excited. Plus, we got it checked out and the mechanic gave it a clean bill of health.

So goodbye Metor Transit, (well once we get all the details worked out and can acctually drive it), you've served me well, but I'm moving on.

Happy Fourth of July! (To all who Celebrate this Holiday)

It is the fourth of July today which is Independance Day for all those in America, and all those who keep America in their hearts. I have family in the States so I always remember this day.

In other news, Mom and Dad have left for Beaulah today but we won't be going until this coming Sunday after church. :( I will miss opening night, but oh well. At least I will get in on the weekdays. I am really looking forward to Beulah this year. I have always loved Beulah, but this year it's different. There are so many people that I haven't seen in awhile that I am so looking forward to seeing. Ryan and I are both looking forward to it. It was funny; a little while ago Ryan said he now understands one of the draws of Beulah now, (he didn't have the privilage of growing up there like I did), it's seeing all your friends you haven't seen all year; and it is true!

I had to laugh at myself the other day. I post this big post saying I'm coming back!, and then I don't post anything after that for days. I don't want to post things just for the sake of posting though, so that is my excuse.

Okay, here's something of substance for you. Well, as you may or may not know, we are on our internship at Metro Wesleyan and I am in charge of the worship for Sunday mornings. It was a scary thought at first, but now I am really glad that I am doing that because I need a push to do things and knowing it's dependent on me (Well, humanly speaking, because it's really all dependant on God, but you know what I mean), is a great motivator. The Lord has been incredible, blessing me beyond what I could imagine, and working in ways that still confound me. This past Sunday was an example of that. We have a lady who calls people to remind them of their duties for Sunday. I've called the people on the praise team myself a few times if I thought I needed to but for the most part I have left it to her. Well, this is nothing against her, but I am going to need to start calling people myself because this past Sunday was interesting. We have one guy who has been playing accoustic guitar during the year, but was supposed to be away for the summer at camp. I was fretting about that when I found out because the other two men who play acoustic guitar chose to step down for various reasons. I was reassured however when he told me he would be back on the weekends. Phew! That was a relief to hear, and we put him on the schedule for this past Sunday.

Fast track to Sunday morning. I show up; no one's there but I'm early so I don't panic. After awhile, the drummer and electric guitar player show up. Ryan is playing bass, I'm all covered there, but there is still no sound guy or my accoustic player. I start to feel slightly paniced. I check the schedule, realizing I wan't sure who was even supossed to be on sound, and it's one of the regular guys. If he were on, he'd be here by now. Same with the accoustic guitar player. I'm really starting to get worried. I get word that the sound guy may have switched with someone else, but the guy I'm being told he switched with would also have been here by now if he were on. I call his house. No answer. I leave a message. If he could come early that would be great. I then move on to calling my guitar player's house. His Mom answers, and when I ask for him she says he's not there and could she take a mesage. This isn't sounding good. Well, it's just Sarah calling from the church. Does she know if he's planning on being here today. No, didn't I know he was at camp? Well, yes, but he told me he'd be home on the weekends. Oh, well not this weekend, they have to clean for an event. Great. To make matters worse, Ryan tells me that this guy has the only bass amp, and if he doesn't come, Ryan can't play. As I take stock of the situation around me a realize I have a band that consists of drums and an electric guitar. I break down. Drums and an electric guitar does not a band make. After a few tears I am reassurred by my Dad that things will be alright. How hard are the songs? Perhaps he could play the piano. And in fact he did. Now we had a band. One of the youth who sometimes helps with sound has come early with his sister. he starts setting everything uo without me even asking. Thank the Lord for his illing ness to do this. Closer to service time, the guy who was orininally scheduled shows up. they were planning on being away but decided to stay. Again, praise the Lord!

The Lord works in mysterious ways you know. We've been planning the services around a theme. It's been working really well. The message ties in to the songs being sung which ties in to a drama, or a video. It just helps everything connect, and it reiterates the point that is trying to be delivered. This week the theme was going to be generous giving. Not monetary, although it could include that, but of your time, efforts, etc. The message was going to be upbeat so it was preferable that the songs were as well. Well, if you know worship choruses at all you will know the time I had trying to find songs that spoke of giving, and were upbeat; most of them are slow. I finally found ones that worked. They were more about giving your life to God and trying to live for him but they worked. When Dad got up to preach, it turns out he felt to preach about something else, and although it wasn't totally unrelated to the songs I had chosen, I could think of other ones that would have fit better. One of the passages of scriptures he quoted was even a passage that has been taken almost word for word and made into a song. We could have sung that I thought. But then I thought about it, and the songs we ended up doing were easier, and not quite as new, and Dad was able to play them with no problem. Had I known about the change, the new songs I would have chosen would have been too hard, and then what would I have done?

I still felt hesitant about how everything went though. I had tried to get the drummer to play a different beat on one of the songs and it ended up not working out all that well. I didn't feel great about the whole situation. After church was over however a lady came up to me and told me that she had really felt lead to worship and that she had really needed this time with the Lord. Later in the day another woman told me that she felt similarly. Their comments weren't about the style of the worship, or the ability of the band; it was about sensing God, and worshipping him. I felt so blessed, and so in awe of God that he could take a situation that I humanly thought had gone horribly wrong, and make it something that worked so well in the right way and for the right reasons. I am learning more and more that it truly is in my weakness that God can work the strongest.

Sorry to have babbled on so long. I guess that was just what was on my heart to share, and I'm too much of a detail person to leave anything out of the story.

Until next time...