Life Is Constant Decisions

Buddy Rich Solo

2007-04-30T02:34:00.001-06:00

Your Welcome!!!

Johnny Knows

2007-04-25T03:12:00.001-06:00

"All that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."
CS Lewis - Mere Christianity

The Monkey Wrench

2007-04-14T03:49:00.000-06:00

So do you ever wonder if it hurts do get hit by a monkey wrench? It does, I got hit right between the eyes what sucks even more is that it was thrown by someone important and it was thrown on purpose. I do not know what the purpose was but I am having a hard time dealing with it. Who you ask would throw a monkey wrench at me? Well it was God. A month ago or so I gave God an ultimatum I said that I wanted his will in my life and that I wanted him to let me know where I am suppose to work for the summer. I said that if he wanted me to work in cold Lake that he allows the base to accept me as a cook full time. And if not that I would stay at Century Grill. Things are going great at the grill for me. I just got my raise and I will have enough money to get to England and back no problem. I thank God for removing the financial worry in the back of my mind. What else I am thankful for is that God has really put a passion in my heart for food, even more so in the last month ot two. I just want to learn as much as I can and I want to get the information from whichever source I can. I do not know if he is setting me up for a career in this industry or not but for know there is a great passion for it. However, just the other day the base called and said that they wanted me too work. They said that they would also allow me to go past the 90 day limit beause I was going back to school in the fall. A month ago I would have loved to go. But now every feeling that I have in me wants to stay here. How could God contradict every feeling I have in me. I want to follow him and I want to be where he wants me to be but I want to stay here. I need a lot of prayer and I will be grateful to get it from anywhere. I have a big decision to make in the next couple of weeks and I give praise and thanks to God for testing me I just hope I pass.

I also have finished my first painting you can check it out on the link to the 'paintings' blog. I also had the oppertunity to see one of my favorite comedians live in Calgary on Thursday. The night was made even sweeter when the Flames lost their first game. I love being in Calgary when the Flames are losing. Peace out guys and I may just be seeing some of you more and some of you less. Oh yah LESS THAN A MONTH UNTIL BRAND NEW!!!

Soundtrack To My Life

2007-03-28T23:52:00.000-06:00

So this is something I saw on Grace's blog a while ago but my iPod was all messed up but now its fixed so here goes nothing...

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?How to do it:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc).
2. Put it on Shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button.
6. Be honest.

OPENING CREDITS - A Way of Life, Hans Zimmer, The Last Samurai
WAKING UP - Stealing Time, Delirious?, Touch
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - The Heat Is On, Kenny Loggins
FALLING IN LOVE - On In Here, Cross Movement, Higher Definition
FIGHT SONG - The Good Times, Dogwood, Reverse Then Forward Again
BREAKING UP - Brotherhood, Flatfoot56, Knuckles Up
PROM - When I'm Gone, 3 Doors Down, Away From The Sun
LIFE IS GOOD - That's the Way I Like It, KC and the Sunshine Band
MENTAL BREAKDOWN - You Are So Beautiful, Ray Charles
DRIVING - Baby Boy, Sean Paul (featuring Beyonce)
FLASHBACK - Higher, K-OS, Exit
GETTING BACK TOGETHER - Come With Me, Puff Daddy, Godzilla Soundtrack
WEDDING - Scars, Papa Roach
FINAL BATTLE - Take Me To Your Leader, Newsboys
DEATH SCENE - Everybody's Fool, Evanescence
FUNERAL SONG - Jesus Walks, Kanye West
END CREDITS - The Debt Collectors, Ben Lee, Awake In The New Sleep

Now your turn....

A Pleasant Epiphany

2007-03-25T02:59:00.000-06:00

This is something that has been on my mind for a while and I had not realized that it was there until I read Drake's blog. He talked about reaching out to the people around you and how we cannot forget about these people. I am actually extremely happy right now! I am happy because I am submerged in a completely secular environment. At least 90% of the people I work with get drunk or high or are sleeping around and at first that bothered me. Now it doesn't I love hanging out with these people they are my friends. I know that you have to be careful when you are hanging out in that environment and I am not going to lie there are times that I stumbled but there isn't any other place I would want to be right now. It's not that my faith is tested every day but I love that I am not inside a safe little bubble. I just like hanging out with real people and I find that there are a lot of fake people out there. Especially the ones that are trapped inside the christian bubbles. I don't know who said it but one of the most real quotes I have ever heard is "there is no growth in comfort and no comfort in growth" I am happy I am not comfortable right now. I think that the church nowadays (not all but a lot) need to pull there heads out of their butts and realize what Jesus was about. A lot of people that are in the church need to get more uncomfortable and take risks and just do as Jesus did. At first I thought that I was really falling away from my faith hanging out with these people in bars and clubs afterwork but now I have a lot of close friends who I can share more and more with. I dunno if any of this makes sense but I really do think the christians in general need to get more uncomfortable.

One more thing I would really like to give thanks to God for coming through for me tonight. For the first time ever I had a few minutes before the rush hit. I prayed and asked for strength and speed and boy was I moving. I encourage you to remember that he will grant us the desires of our hearts and let me tell you I have never moved like that before in my life. This is Andrew "The Blur" Newman signing off.

2007-03-12T01:39:00.001-06:00

As Iron

2007-03-12T00:31:00.000-06:00

I am writing tonight out of frustration yet again. I do not know why I am so frusterated but I am. The major part of it is financial frusteration. Everytime it seems that I am in the clear and will barely have enough money for school my knees of confidence are taken out from under me. I think that it is God trying to make me stronger and trust in him more but I am still having a difficult time deciding where he wants me to work for the next six months so I need your guys prayer. I also want to thank and praise God for these trials. Without him we are nothing and I believe that we have to be constantly reminding ourselves of that. I also may be going offline in order to save more money. In addition, I am pleased to say that I will soon be finished my first painting which I am going to go and work on right now. So good night and godspeed my brothers and sisters.

Decisions and Motivation

2007-01-19T02:27:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to blog for a while but I could not quite grasp what I wanted to blog about. With the help of my good friend Anton I have had an epiphany but with that epiphany comes frustration. This frustration rears its ugly head in my decision making and daily motivation.

I admit it...I had stopped going to church again. I realize now that it was the wrong choice but I did not want to be at Central Baptist any more. What had initially attracted me to the church was removed when I returned in the fall. Therefore, I hate to be all consumer's about it but I just did not want to be there. I chose to work on Sundays instead. Of course I still was a small group leader so I kind of had church on Wednesday nights. Now I realize that I also need church for myself on Sundays.

The epiphany came when Anton and I finally had a chance to hang out. It had taken us 3 months to finally hook up again since Peru but I finally had a Saturday night off so we went out for some drinks and food and I got to meet some of his friends. The best part was that he invited me to his church the next morning and I thought why the heck not. It would be nice to check his church out just to see what was happening.

I am not going to lie...It was a little awkward at first; however, I do strive off awkward. It was mildly awkward because for the first time in my life I was a cultural minority. When Anton introduced me to the only other white guy there I was surprised to find out that it was their pastor Rick. Long story short, I have been going there for 2 weeks and I am loving every minute of it. It is the first church that I have been to where the people are actually interested in you. There are an extremely welcoming family of God and they have set the bar for what other churchs should strive for. The other pro about this church is that the service starts at 9:30 so that means I can go and play hockey with the guys from work at 12. THANK YOU GOD!!!

The other thing that I love about the church is that God is using the pastor to hit me right where I need to be hit. God is just using him to tell me how to live out this phase in my life and I love him for that. However, this is where the frustration comes into play.

Whats frustrating about decision making is what to choose. I am not talking about little things like what to have for dinner I am talking about big things like where does God want me too work in order to save the money for Capernwray or what does God want me to do with my life after Capernwray? (I've been watching a lot of Scrubs and a doctor would be cool!) There is the stuff that I know I want to do but because I am not totally close to God right now I do not know if those are the decisions that he wants for me.

The other thing in my life that is really frustrating me right now is self motivation. How do people do it? I have a big list if things that I want to accomplish that day before work but instead I sleep in then get up and watch like 5 episodes of Scrubs or Arrested Development(I love Bittorrent) and before you know it it's time to go to work. Then I feel like a retard and completely useless. A lot of the things on the list are things that I want to do too like paint or learn guitar but instead I just sit my fat ass down in front of the computer.

Pastor Rick was talking about miracles and how to prepare for them. I am starting to prepare myself for a couple miracles and I was wondering if you guys could pray for them too. One is that God will provide me with the money that I need for Capernwray without having to go to a place like Fort Mac to cook at a camp. Second is that he gives me the strength and energy to motivate myself to be more useful in the kingdom of God. And finally that I do not drift away from him again because he is the best friend anyone could ever have.

Thanks for listening to me blab. You guys have to check out this Chinese church though its super cool I love it. And you will have to come play some ice hockey sometime. Oh and if any of the Scheinbiens are reading this...DAVE AND JOHN NEED TO MOVE TO EDMONTON!!! Kyle is moving out on Saturday in case you guys were wondering...yippeee!...jk...

Turkey Delight

2006-12-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well Turkey Delight was a huge success. I thank you all for your prayers and support, especially Stephanie and her small group. Except for the fact that they sent all of my knives through the dishwasher (that's a huge no no) they were truly awesome and everything turned out perfect. Maybe the treasure in heaven for us will be a turkey dinner who knows? So now that this whole ordeal is all said and done I am sitting here tonight trying to think of how this project affected me and to be completely honest it did not. I feel the exact same last night as I do tonight and I do not know if this is normal or not. I thought I might feel warm and fuzzy inside you know that really good feeling you get inside of you when you know you sacrificed some of your time for the benefit of others. But there were none of those feelings in my heart tonight. I guess I kind of feel disappointed that I do not have those feelings because they are awesome. I know deep down that God used me to help other people feel good tonight but why doesn't that make me feel good? It is a school project so I have one more paragraph to hand in on this project but I have no clue what to write it about. Overall, I had a lot of fun doing this project over the last 2 days and I had a great time hangin out with Chet for it but for some reason tonight is just almost depressing to me for some reason. Maybe I am just tired and crabby so I am going to head to bed. Thank you all again for your support for this project you filled a lot of very empty stomachs tonight and warmed a lot of hearts. Stay classy my amigos!

Isn't She Beautiful

2006-12-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

Well here she is the wait is over. I imagine that the suspense for some has been more than the others. I hope you guys were not expecting a girl or anything well maybe Grace Scheinbien because she is so freakin awesome (we'll have to get together and chat about England and traveling more I forgot what you told me about trains and hostels).

I absolutely love her she is the sexist thing that I have laid my eyes on in a long while but I love her and she loves me it's more a love hate relationship I guess (she already cut me).

The New Love of My Life

2006-12-14T00:11:00.000-07:00

Well I cannot begin to describe how joyful my life became today. Who would have thought, me Newman, ending up with something so beautiful and precious. I believe I have finally found the right one. It's like a perfect gift from God that he has graciously blessed me with. She is sleek and sexy and has the most perfect curves. A hint, Andrew and Tyler both know of this love. Another hint, we both love food and we are going to be speding a lot more time together in the next forever. Hopefully until the day that I die. I am so happy that my whole body wriggles right down to my toes. I do not know if wriggles is a word however there are no real words to describe love. Are you curious yet what this new love is? I will tell you all of you, when the time is right. But for tonight I have worked a 13 hour shift and I am quite tired so tired that I cannot type anymore. But to leave you guys with a little suspense...I do have a picture of us that I will post on my blog in the near future. Peace out my Brothers and Sisters and I wish a special good night to the new love of my life, you will be in my dreams tonight.

Desires

2006-12-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

I love the idea that God places natural desires within us. All of which have the opportunity to benefit us positively but can also have negative consequences if the desires are used improperly or abused. I love the desire that he places within us for creativity. I have such a passion to express myself through art inside of me that I get frustrated when I do not have the means to do so. I am trying to channel this desire into something more productive and that is learning guitar. One of my goals is to learn guitar before I leave for England and I hope you guys hold me accountable. I also am looking into getting into painting, that inspiration comes from the Schienbeins. I dunno I just have the urge to express what God is doing in my life.

Another desire that I truly thank God for is the desire to be in community. I am in Calgary for this weekend and I am loving it. I really missed out on being in community with these friends in particular. I am also extremely thankful for the community that I have in Edmonton. I believe that God wants us to be in community because we can help each other. It is much easier to deal with your problems when you have friends to help, I think that we learn more about God from each other than we do anywhere else, and I believe that I just plain out have more fun in a group than I do on my own. I believe that as Christians we thrive in community and we can feed off of each other in order for us all to grow.

The final desire that I am thankful for is the desire for intimacy that he places inside of us. He uses this desire to bring people together into strong relationships that honor and please him as well as us. But in addition to the drive towards human to human relationships I also believe that he uses this desire to make us crave a relationship with him and I think that is super awesome.

Overall, desires that we feel are always necessary and they are inside us for a reason; however, we also have to make sure that these desires are being used properly and for the purpose that God intended so we do not end up hurting ourselves. Thanks for listening I do not know if what I am saying is correct that is why I enjoy feedback. Peace out my brothers and sisters!

Friends

2006-11-06T23:58:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that God has blessed me with some of the most awesome people on the face of this planet as my friends. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a friend as 1 a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations 2 a familiar or helpful thing. I think that parts of this are true. I believe that family can also be your friends but I also believe that the bond can be more than just a mutual affection. There are those surface friendships that you have with your coworkers or classmates that can be the mutual affection friendships but there is something truly different about those real good deep down life long friends. I know that all friendships, deep or surface, are opportunities given to us by God. However, the deep ones I find are the true blessings from God. My friends remind me daily how much God works in my life especially through them for me. I want this blog to show how I truly feel about these friends so I am going to write about all that come to mind. If I forget about you let me know because it is late...haha... For those that read this the length of what I write about you should not matter and if favoritism is shown it is not on purpose that's why it is alphabetical order. So here it goes...

Andrew Nippard you are awesome plain and simple. I still remember the first time I met you and your family. You guys came over for some tubing and I think we had a BBQ. Some of my favorite memories from our friendship has to do with BBQs and it is something that I hope we both continue doing until we can no longer chew steak. I enjoyed the few late night conversations we had when you were in Australia and I did not realize how much I missed having you around until that awesome trip we had in Jasper. There were a lot of laughs. The thing I value most in our friendship is how we just get one another. God has let us click together in a way that I think is just awesome. I hope to see more of you before I head off to England and I'll have to teach you how to cook some wicked food.

Brandon Ubersteinerottenreiner I miss hanging out with you a lot. I miss the rook and poker and even the dreadfully overplayed pool and pingpong. I liked fishing with you a lot this summer and you are in my prayers and thought a lot. Make sure you give me a shout next time you come into the city.

Brent and Lana I do not know if you guys read blogs or not but I think you guys are awesome. You guys make Edmonton for me and I thank God for such awesome people. I enjoy our Sundays and I hope they continue long into the future, well at least until I go to England.

Carmen & Drake Farmer are the two best Farmers ever. Drake I do not think you have any idea how much you have helped me over the years. Your wisdom is truly beyond its age and I thank God for it. My fondest memories of our friendship would have to be just hanging out. I do not believe that there is a time that we have hung out where we did not laugh and I love it. Do not believe the words that come out of my mouth because deep down in my soul I love all Frencg people because of you...and because of their food. Even though most of this paragraph is dedicated towards Drake I still have not forgotten about the wonderful and beautiful Carmen. I can honestly say that before Peru this summer I never really had the chance to get to know you Carmen. I guess that was just another blessing that God gave me in Peru that I did not fully realize until now. I am looking forward to getting to know you better and have just as many laughs. I also am pleased to inform the both of you that when you decide to have children that I am a fully qualified babysitter and I would love to mold the minds of your children...haha...oh yah if you have more than two I get to name the third one.

Chad Skinner even though it has been a while I still think your fun. You'll definately have to come visit me sometime in the city so we can catch up. I loved the summer sleepovers and the late night food creations. I do not know what happened to your desire to be a Chef but I'll carry on the torch for both of us.

Dave Schienbein you are my main man for music and I love you for that. If God did not place you in my life I would not have 75% of the CDs that I have now and I probably would not have liked camp because you made it for me El Jefe and Chico. I miss having the TV nights and the indigestion that I got from those 7-Eleven nachos but it was well worth it. Hanging out with you and your brothers is one of the simple pleasures in my life that God blessed me with while I was in Cold Lake. I hope to see some of the laughter than we all shared move into Edmonton with you in January.

Grace Schienbein you were a major part of the best summer of my life. I thank you for all of the endless hours and hard work that you put into planning the trip to Peru. The only thing that could have made this summer better would have been if you were able to be on the trip with us. I pray that God blesses all of your life ambitions and that I also never find out what your brothers really meant by all that melon farmong stuff. You and Dave were the biggest influences on me going to Capernwray and if I have half as much fun as you guys did it will be worth while.

Hanna Jackson you rock. I do not care if you make fun of me for my poor map recognition. I guess you will have to be the navigator in our travels. I have never been more excited for anything in all my life, that is travelling Europe with you. I am excited to see what God has for us in Europe and I am happy that I am embarking on one of the greatest adventures ever with you. Can't wait...

John Schienbein I think that you are possible one of the wisest men I know. I thank God that I am blessed with a friend that knows as much as you do. I think that the most favorite memories are from when we cooked for ALPHA. I enjoyed the fellowship as well as the TinTin, Different Strokes and the necessary quality control on the tastings. I hope that you also move into the city before I leave for school so we have a chance to hang out more often.

Jon Richardson you are the man. Not because you have a nice car or because we can hear your subs from 10 blocks away. It is because you finally get the point of Christianity and I love that you learned that. I pray that you come to know and love God as I have. I encourage you to keep the communication going and come visit me more.

Kyle Keller lay off the tuna and hot sauce before I die from methane inhallation. Because of this problem I say to the rest of you, never live with a Keller...Drake you know what I mean.

Sari Moreland you are the closest thing I have to a sister and I thank God for you. You successfully hold the claim to easily the most awkward moment in my life and you should be proud. I was thrilled to be able to experience Peru with you and I will never forget that trip. In addition to Peru, Jasper was also awesome and I hope it becomes an annual experience. I know that God has something exciting for you in the future so even though Cold Lake sucks right now just remember the future will be awesome.

Shawn Sales I plain out love you man. We have had a lot of laughs over the years and all of them I cherish. I always enjoy hanging out with you but if you ever headbutt me again I will have to break it off. Make sure you vidit me more often.

Stephanie McAuley you are my favorite nurse. I think its awesome all of the disgusting things you get to see on your practicum. I do not think mine will be as exciting as women giving birth in the hallway but I will try and make it fun. It is too bad that our schedules do not clash better but we still have to make the best of it. May God help you with all of your homework...because I am done!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

Tanya Sales I also had an awesome time with you in Peru. Even though you had a crush on someone I know is gay that is OK I will not hold it against you (for everyone else, this is a major inside joke so please do not interpret). I hope we have more of a chance to hang out next time I come back home. Even though it will not be for a while.

Tyler Fehr you are quite possibly the most beautiful grizzly bear I know. Not only are you as hairy as one but you also eat like one and I think thats awesome. I thank God for blessing me with such a great friend. I was also happy to share Peru and Jasper with you because the experiences are beyond words. I look forward to all of our future meetings even though we are in seperate cities. I have forgiven you for cheering for Calgary in the playoffs. Make sure you come visit me and I'll give you the necessary culinary skills to get you a girl.

If I missed anyone please comment and I will for sure put you on. Thankyou all for making my life thus far awesome and humurous. Peace out and God bless...for now. I also have to show you guys my workplace accident. I was out for four days and I was a complete mess...

Well I was just minding my own business at work wearing my sexy uniform...

When all of a sudden the unthinkable happened and disaster struck...

Thats okay chicks dig guys with scars (7 whole stitches)...

It Was The Best Summer of My Life: Part III

2006-10-22T15:41:00.000-06:00

Jasper was something I will never forget. Good times with friends, cooking over an open fire and watching Sari devour smore after smore after smore after smore...however, no where near as fast and as much as Tyler(you're a man among men). I just love that God puts the desire for community into our hearts because I definitely find it with you guys and I thank you for such an awesome time. However, I would love some pictures of the trip but I do not know where I would get them...hmmm...if only someone had brought a camera. There are lots of good stories probably my favorite being Greg getting hit by a rockslide or even better was the random Cold Lake Cougar attacks which unfortunately Greg was also a victim of. I do have a picture of the cougar in its natural habitat but you will have to wait until the end of the Blog. Overall, it does not get any better than Jasper '06 unless we do it again this year WHICH WE BETTER!!! But it would also be better if some of our other friends had come, bunch of bums.

After Jasper was also very exciting because I got to go back to school which is way better than anyone else's school right now, from what I hear anyway. My homework consists of converting recipes for about 20min a night and thats about it. We do also get other harder assignments like an entire 1500 word essay about Remember the Titans and my Garde Manger final project was a little difficult because I had to invent a salad. By the way the "Great White Ninja Salad" was a success and tasty if you come over I'll make it for you. The biggest project we have had to do so far is not even close to being done but is huge is a Pay It Forward type project. I do not have any of the details worked out yet but it will be a food ministry for the less fortunate around Christmas time that I get to organize. More details to come on that. In addition to Garde Manger, I had the opportunity to take a Butcher class as well as customer service in which I was a 5 Star waiter for 3 weeks. VERY COOL! We got to do everything from table side Caesar salads to decanting wine at the table and table side flambe desserts. It was a really awesome experience. Just on Monday we started Dessert lab where we get to learn the basic baking fundamentals. I only have 3 more weeks left in school and then I have a 4 week practicum at the Macdonald Hotel which I am really excited about. School is almost over for now which I am excited for because I get to start making money again.

This is the part of the Blog where I deliver the really exciting news that I promised in the last Blog. Capernwray Hall in Lancashire, England is going to receive the Newman Experience! Yeppers, I just got my acceptance for September a few weeks ago. Now I have to work like a dog for the next 10 months in order to save the $17,000 I'll need for tuition, airfare, and my Great Italian Escape during the 4 week mid term break with my wicked awesome world traveling buddy Hanna who will also be attending school with me. I am super excited about what God is bringing me to England for and what he will teach me there.

Saturday is the SIM brunch in which I am also excited about. Mostly because I just remembered it tonight and because I get to share with others the awesome things that God did in my life in and through Peru and its people. My new job is also going great. I am officially a prep cook at Century Grill and Bar. The people there are just awesome and I cannot complain about the scenery. What is even better about it is that it looks like I will be able to work a larger number of hours there after school is done I am hoping for like 60/week.

All in all, I am having a great time in Edmonton and I am looking forward to having any visitors; however, I am officially poor so if you buy the food I'll cook it for you. Here are some pics for my final part of this summer story. Oh yah and just to set the record strait, no matter what you hear from Keller, he is the one with the excessive gas I think it comes from all the Tuna and hotsauce that he consumes, IT'S RANCID!!!

It Was The Best Summer of My Life: Part II

2006-10-15T09:38:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has taken so long for the second part but everyone knows how great Telus' service is. Peru was probably the best thing that has happened to me so far in my life. I am trying to find the proper words to portray what God did in my life but, to be completely honest, I do not believe I have discovered everything that God taught me on this trip. So as I blog I believe that God will inform me just as much as I will inform you.
The first thing that I realized God had taught me on the trip was how important prayer is. Prayer is one of the most important thing in the Christian faith. I had always heard about how stuff always went wrong on missions trips. Events that range from small things like the airline losing your luggage to major things such as severe illness. However, none of this affected our team and I believe that is because of the amazing support that this team had. I used this lesson in Peru and have now applied it to my life daily which is really cool. I have realized how important prayer is and that there is no limits on it. I just love praying now because I can pray with expectation. That is my prayer for all Christians that they will pray with expectation it has been so awesome in my life and I would love it if you guys would try it in yours.
The second thing that God showed me on the trip is something that has really made an impact on my life. He showed me that the bond between Christians in the world, which is basically him we are sharing, can span any gap. The friendships and other relationships that were formed between us and the people of Peru were and are incomparable. God broke through many barriers in order for this to happen the major one being the language and cultural barriers. The bond that I now share with these people is just awesome and I believe that God does this on every missions trip. If he did not I believe that there would no longer be any missionaries because the way he works is that he makes people fall in love with the country and the people in it and that is exactly what happened to me. I do not think that there was one person on the team that would not go back if they had the opportunity. These people will forever be in my heart and thoughts and I thank God for that.

I believe that another idea that God kind of kindled in my heart while I was in Peru was of him as a father and how the image of a father suits him perfectly. There was a father on our team with his kids and it was just an amazing experience to see the way that they interacted because I realized that God interacts with us the same way. The epiphany that I had went even further in September when I read a book by Donald Miller called To Own A Dragon. There were many different things in this book that related to Peru and I think that it is awesome that God can still use Peru to teach me things further down the road. The part of the trip that most stood out to me is when the father is trying to teach the son something and the son can put up the biggest fuss and complain and whine and nag; however, the father is always patient and calm until what he is trying to teach the son is accomplished. I look at my own life and the many times that God or even my own father was trying to teach me stuff and out of my childish stupidity I put up a big fuss when there wa son need to. The part of the book that stuck out most to me is when Miller was talking about the love of the father. He looked at different types of love such as when you love your brother or when you fall in love with a girl but then you look at a fathers love and it is just there and it is automatically unconditional. As soon as the father sees that little ball of skin he will easily lay down his life for it without question. I thought this was so cool because the love of God had never been explained to me like this before and now I seem to understand it that little bit more.

I am sure that there is even more that God will teach me from Peru and I hope to relay it to my Blog when he does. I want to take this time to once again thank all the people who were on the team and the even more amazing people who were praying for us. I am excited for everyday of my life because God is teaching me something new everyday and it is so awesome to have a personal relationship with him. Make sure you tune in for the final part where I will catch you up on the awesome adventures in Jasper and starting back up school which is freekin' awesome fun.

PS I have some super exciting news to reveal in my next blog!!!

It Was The Best Summer of My Life: Part I

2006-10-02T00:26:00.000-06:00

Sorry everyone that it has been so long but I did not have internet over the summer so I apologize. I do believe that I will remember this summer for the rest of my life because God has never worked so much in my life and I had never got to expereince the things before that I got to do this summer. The best way to express myself will be in three seperate blogs i do not know if they will all get done tonight but I believe that these are just some things that I have to get out of my head and carefully process them through my heart so I understand myself what is going on in my life and what God is trying to teach me through these experiences.

The first part of this is about my giant epiphany that I had at camp and how it has changed my life so far. Camp this year was completely awesome and for all of you guys that missed it I feel sorry for you. I had just an awesome cabin with a great group of guys. My favorite guy in my cabin, some of you may know him, was Nathan Farkash. If you read this Nathan you were the best junior counselor i have ever had and you made camp for me. For any of you that do not kno, Nathan runs like a Gazelle. What was so awesome about Nathan was that him and I were going through and had gone through some of the same things so we could have some good talks, and his Gazellness helped us kick but in games and severly made up for the lackingness of my Elephantness. Once again my cabin won the overall cabin cleanup prize which was a sweet Canada stool. What I love most about camp was that the reason we won the prize is because I beat David in a wrestling match for 200,000 points haha. Dave you will never beat me.

The epiphany that I had at camp was the result of my faith over the last year. It being the first year away from home my walk was all over the place. I loved being away from home and I loved the fact that I really had no obligations anymore. The result of this freedom was that I was no longer obligated to go to church. I had placed other priorities above my walk, although this wasn't the first time I had done this in my life, this one had the most drastic consequences. Although there were not any physical consequences such as a police record, intoxication, or worse, there were drastic spiritual consequences. It got to the point where I had consumed myself with everything that wasn't God that I got to the point where I had completey deafened my ears to his voice. Even though I subconciously knew what I was doing I honestly did not want to change my ways at first. That was until I got to camp. This was the first camp that I have been at where I did not hear God talking to me and that is when I realized why I couldn't hear him. On the other hand, I believe that it was good for me because it pretty much wiped the slate clean for my walk. It took me back to the basics and I believe that it was almost like I was excepting christianity all over again. The choice that was pressed upon my heart at camp was whether or not God exists. I simply had to choose yes or no. I believe that God gave me this choice because I had to decide for myslef whether or not I was going to be a Christian. It was no longer going to be living out my parents faith I had to make it my own. So I simply choose and for the first time knew what it meant to have the faith of a child. God just plain out existed it did not matter how or where or why he just did and I think that is so awesome.

After camp I was starting to realize Christianity and what it is. A lot of the knowledge I was blessed with came from a book called "The Jesus I Never Knew" by Phillip Yancy. Tyler suggested it and it was awesome. For the frist time in my life the human side of Jesus was portrayed in a way that it made him easier to reach. Not that I could ever be him but just the fact that he was human made him a lot closer. I realized that the church is always portraying God is this giant supernatural unniversal being and he is but that side of him is so difficult to empathise with and have a relationship with. But just knowing that Jesus was human makes it that much easier to have a relationship with him. Just knowing that he struggled through all of the things that we struggled with makes it that much easier to represent and strive to be more like him. Now that I found I could have a relationship with him i just had to figure out how.

I remember fishing with my brother Mike. I love fishing and i always have a great time evn if we have to row that boat across the entire lake. Besides only catching two 4 inch perch i rember a conversation with him. I asked how the heck am I suppose to have a personal relationship with Jesus? Everyone always says that you just have to read your bible everyday and pray. But I thought outloud that there had to be more to it than that. I thought that I was missing something from this big picture but I could not figure out what. As I look back now I realise just how childish I was being because that really is all there is to having a relationship with Christ. That is what I want every Christian in the world to know this is how we communicate with the most powerful being in the world.

That will be all for the first part. It feels so good to blog again. I hope you guys all come visit me in Edmonton I have a new wicked awesome basement suit and I could cook you some wicked food. Here are a couple camp pictures for you guys. Tootles.

My Not So Def Ears

2006-04-23T15:17:00.000-06:00

I am not going to lie. Over the past few months i had hit the lowest part in my walk with God. Even though life was going really good u would be surprised at how numb I had become to God's voice in my life. I am happy to say that I am back on the strait and narrow path. I shouldn't say that because i found in my devotions something very awesome. When i got my focus back in the right direction i decided to start at the beginning of Christ's life. I thought if i was actually going to establish a personal relationship that i should find out what Chrsit is actually like. Bring on the gospels. As i started reading through Matthew i found some really cool stuff. The coolest being the parable of the sower. Now i know i and every other christian has read this a million times but this was the first time it actually had a meaning for me. As you know there are four different people that heard the gospel. The seed sown along the path, rocky parts, thorns, and good soil. I realized that i did not fit into any of the negative categories. Even though i felt like i had strayed so far off the path, i never had actually left it. It was just extremely encouraging to me to know that no matter how def my ears had become to God's voice, he had never stopped calling out for me. I am just though enthused that i actually have started a good realtionship with God where we comunicate everyday, and for those of you who have not yet received this great joy i pray that you will soon get it.

Pray for the Peru Missions Trip 2006

Mental Block

2006-03-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog tonight because i feel as though i just have to get my thoughts out there before my mind will let me finish my school assignment. There has been a lot of things going through my mind in the last few weeks and especially the last few nights. I have been trying to figure out my life and what is happening in it, how my actions as of late will affect my future, and lastly where i lie as a christian and what it means to be a christian.

I have realized over this past weekend that everything is not what it seems and that the image of a person can be easily faked into pleasing the present situation. In the last couple of days the true images of some friends were revealed to me and i feel as though it has turned me right upside down to a point of utter confusion. How could i have been so completely blind to what was actually happening completely baffled my mind. On the other hand i am extremely thankful because it showed me how easy it is for one to convince themselves that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. The events that took place have provided me with an astounding epiphany and a depth of enlightenment into my own life as well as my own heart. I have realized that the way i have been living my life was not appropriate and the things that i had convinced myself of being correct were the direct opposite. I am happy that this epiphay took place before the trip to Peru. I honestly believe that the example i was setting would have ended up in devastation if i had continued without change before the trip. I just hope and pray that i can help other people realize what i did before something happens that will be regretted in the future.

With this epiphany also comes a chance to try and figure somethings out in my walk with Christ. This epiphany has made me question what a christian can or can not do or rather what a christian should and should not do. The major issue that i examined in my mind is alcohol. I believe that a christian can drink, the physical act of letting alcohol hit the acid in your stomach is not a sin. Then i asked myself the question should a christian drink? I used the physical act into tricking myself to believe drinking in any situation is okay. Now i realize that i have to be very careful in what situation i am in when i am drinking alcohol. I realized that it is to tricky for myself to distinguish and that it be better if i just avoided it everytime. These are just my opinions and decisions i have now made for myslef and i do not look down on christians that drink. Everyone has the right to answer this question for themselves. There are a few more issues that i have not finished contemplating yet but i will in the near future.

Oh well, its getting late and i still have to type some more homework so tootles and i hope that what i have had to say makes sense and that there was some reason for me to type this.

If you want to read a wicked book read Eragon by Christopher Paolini. I suggest you do so before the movie comes out in December. It is amazing!

Cough! Cough!

2006-02-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Between applying math to the culinary field, sanitation courses, regular culinary classes, theory classes, preparing for the trip to peru and trying to teach myself spanish; I'm surprised there is still enough room left in brain to remember how to type. However, I think it is going to pay off in the long run.
School is going great! I'm kickin' around a B+ average which is really good, the written portion of the course is a lot harder than i thought it was going to be. I just finished my first class, as some of u may know it was soup, vegetable and starch cookery. Now i have started Short Order which is really, really easy which makes for a nice break. For those of u who caught a small flicker of my training last Saturday with some eggs benedict, there is plenty more where that came from. I apologize to those who didnt get a chance to try it; however, i always save the best for last. John, i will give u the first Laurette Potato that i make in Cold Lake.
The other major thing that is happening in my life right now is that i get to go on a missions trip to Peru for two weeks in August. The bad news is i have to get a physical...cough! cough! Which i am NOT very thrilled about. But i have always wanted to learn Spanish and now i am forced to which is cool; on the other hand, i have to teach it to myself and im not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing. The other downside is that there is a heck of a lot of other stuff that we have to train for that i wasnt previously aware of. It is in God's hands and i know he has put me on this missions team for a reason.

For those of you who were not at skirrific u missed out big time. Congrats to Drake and Fehr the band was exceptional and that goes for Darren as well and all those other guys who worked on the movie, i was extremely impressed and left completely satisfied. Adiós Amigos!

Thankyou Chevy Chase!

"When Chevy Chase jumps into a pool he doesn't get wet,

the pool gets Chevy Chased." unkown

Holding In My Poop

2006-02-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

Well I'm sitting here holding in a poop because im to lazy to go up stairs; therfore, this might be a very quick blog or just a normal one, or a very long one depending on how lazy my fingers get. Well the most exciting event that has just recently happened to me would probably have to have been at about 8:15 last night when my Pittsburgh Steelers won the Vince Lombardi trophy at Superbowl XL in Detroit. They are my Oilers of the NFL and for them to have done what they did was incredible. What makes the victory even sweeter is when i get to rub it in the face of all the Seahawks fans at work and claim my $20 from the Hospitality Manager.

Now a friend of mine, some may know her as Sumo Anne, said that if i never had anything else to write about that i could write about her. I have plenty of other stuff i could write about; however, i think this would be the most fun. My favorite thing about Sumo Anne is her openess in sharing and expressing the gas that comes out of her body. She is also harder to score on than any other girl i have met in my life and consumes more food than most of the people i know. In conclusion, she is lot of fun to hang around with and if your ever hungry she always has a snack in her purse and a wetnap for cleanup.

School is absolutely amazing! The dishes i am making are so amazing that i could turn a behemoth carnivore like Fehr Bear into a vegetarian. The best dishes that i get to make are the potato ones. I had no idea there were so many ways to prepare potatoes. My favorite potato dish, by far, was the laurette potato. It's pretty much like the lightest, fluffiest donut you have ever had but its potatoes. One of my favorite soups that we got to make was the Mulligatawny which is like a curry, chicken and rice soup which I hope I can make for everyone soon enough.

Well i got to go the Cosby kids are just screamin to get into the pool. I hope to see you all at skirrific where me and Fehr have prepared an extreme sports demonstration that will occur in the snowboard park at approximately 10:30. In the words of Jerome Betis, "the bus stops here..."

Losing My Blog Virginity

2006-01-16T23:38:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog ever and I'm not really sure what the point of them are but it seems like the thing to do in my newly discovered free time. So here goes nothing...

I now have this free time because as of a week ago today I started the Culinary Arts Program at the Northern Alberta Institue of Technology. This is a really exciting time in my life mostly because i now only have to work on weekends. I decided going to school is much better than working because for some reason, even with the homework, I have way more free time. Take today for instance, my classmates and I had a three hour break in between classes. As a result, we took the initiative and played pool and bublbe hockey all afternoon in the NAIT pub called The Nest. It was quite possibly the best bubble hockey I've ever played. I figure that I am in peak physical condition for this rediscovered joy and am in the prime of my bubble hockey career going five and one.

The best part about going back to school is the class itself. I am extremely excited about what the course has to offer me, other than pool and bubble hockey. For instance, today we started the Kitchen Sanitation course, finally I will at least know the name of the smell that is coming out of my room. It doesn't bother me any, I leave the pile of food and dirty laundry on the opposite side of my room. The flies have their space and I have mine. Maybe they'll even recommend on how often im suppose to wash the sheets on my bed, but I don't think we cover that till week eight.

For those of you who I have not yet informed, I am now employed at Red Lobster where I am also enjoying myself. The managers there are really helpful and informative and spread light on things that I would never have realized on my own. For instance how terribly racist the movie Shrek is..."the only black guy on the movie is a jackass."

In addition to the bubble hockey excitement, there is also a lot of other exciting things happening in sports. For example, Papua New Guinea just won the Australian Country Cricket Championship. As well as the wicked awesome Pittsburgh Steelers advancing to the AFC Championship game. There is also the World Cup and the Winter Olympics coming up. Wow! This is going to be an exciting year for sports, especially when the Edmonton Oilers will defeat the Ottawa Senators to win the Stanley Cup.

Well it's getting rediculously late and I have to be playing with extremely sharp knives in just a few hours so i better be somewhat coherent or Uncle Jim and I will be counting fractions on our fingers together. So this is the first blog for Newman Unplugged and I hope you enjoyed it. I have now officially lost my blog vitginity right now...