Disclaimer

Ok folks, as many of you have noticed Blog has a lovely feature of adding comments, which is nice. I like to read the things you have to say, however if you could be so kind as to not place profanity in your comments that would be great. You may notice on one of the comments on another post has 4 letter word I prefer not to use. I want to leave the comment there, and warn you that it is there, but please don’t swear on my Blog and we’ll all get along fine. Ok? Ok.

Hit It!

Water-Skiing is a lot harder than it looks! I was out to a cottage just south of Perry Sound (where Bobby Ore grew up) from Thursday to Saturday and I had an oppertunity to try this sport on Black Stone Lake. Basically what you do is; strap on the skis, hang on the stick and yell “HIT IT!” and off you go. But this is not all there is to it. It’s important to find your balance and to be angled in the right direction. Otherwise you are in for one painful drink through your nose! Well, knew that it would be hard but I figured that I would be up in no time. How wrong I was. I was out in the water and ready to go but every time I would yell HIT IT and every time I would either fall back or get pull over or have the stick pulled out of my hands or whatever! It was really hard and really frustrating. I didn’t get up at all the first day I was there and not until the second night did I get up and away. I wasn’t even going to try anymore but the man who had invited me to come encouraged me to keep at it and I did it. It was really fun once I got up and I’m glad I did stick with it because even though it was hard and I’m sore the feeling of being up there and skiing across the lake was great!

And it made me think of how many people go through life and “never get up” and never see the reward that comes with the determination to do so. Now, I’m not saying this is some sort of overcoming, emotional story of triumph. But it is really amazing, to me, how many people go through life and never aim for the reward at the end, which is heaven. This, to me, is like going water skiing and never pressing on until you get up. Because if you don’t get up, you can duplicate the experience by getting someone to splash water in your face so it goes up your nose, kick you in the back and give you a weddgie! And many people settle for that in life. But we need to press on and take life and HIT IT hard for Christ because the reward is going to be spectacular.

Bitter-Sweet

Well, the summer is just about over and the Toronto section of it will be done for me on Sunday the 15th. I've finished working with the youth for the summer here at Keele Street Christian Church and I've had a great summer with them. But leaving this place is a bitter-sweet experience, hence the title, because mixed with the excitement of going home to see my family who I haven't seen since the beginning of May, and my beautiful girlfriend Jacquelyn who visited me about half way through my term here, are the added emotions of leaving loved ones behind yet again. (That had to be the longest sentence ever) It was a hard decision to make when I was thinking about coming here to Toronto in the first place. I was scared of the big city and of the feeling of being completely out of my element. And I certainly did not want to leave my loved ones that far away. But I felt God tugging me in this direction and even though it was scary I knew He had something for me here. And He certainly has. My summer here has been an amazing learning and growing experience and I wouldn't trade the memories of this summer for the world. I have been continually impressed with the youth, as well as the congregation. The warm and inviting people that they are shine Christ through and through. The biggest thing that has impressed me about the youth here at Keele, is how they love each other. They are truly following Christ's example in that. And they love and support I have received from them has meant everything in the success of my ministry here. If they have learned half as much from me as I have learned from them, I have been more than successful in this venture. To them I say thank-you and I love you all. I'll always be your Uncle Ben.

The other half of this equation that has made this summer such a great learning and growing experience is the Pastor here and his family. Grant has acted as a mentor to me over the past 14 weeks and I have learned a tremendous amount from him. Watching him in action here at Keele and seeing how he shepherds his flock is truly an amazing thing. I have learned so much about ministry from him. The church here at Keele is truly lucky to have a man of God like Grant at the helm. I will miss him and his family as I go.

And finally the congregation here has been a blessing to me as well. They have supported me in everything I have done here and that means the world to me. Its not just the youth who affectionately call me "Uncle Ben." And I have even found room and board at the home of Stephen and Beth Knox. They opened their home to me, a stranger to them and have treated me like family. I feel very much a part of the church family here at Keele and have been made to feel that way from the first week. So thank-you Keele street for everything and should our paths cross again in a working environment, I look forward to that day because I know what I'm getting in to... One of the warmest, most loving congregations I have ever seen. God bless.

Uncle Ben

Reason for the name

Hello all, and welcome to my blog. I figured since everyone else in the world has one of these things I should get one too. Because any time a bunch of people are doing something you should always just do it too so you can be cool no matter what! Anyways the purpose of this "post" is to fill you in on what the name of this blog is all about. Over the past 14 weeks I have lived here in Toronto and I have really enjoyed it. But I just have one thing I would like to say to all of you people who live in this great city and walk down town on a regular basis... YOU DON'T OWN THE SIDEWALK!!! So if I am walking towards you or behind you or if I am on my roller blades then please let me through!! I will move for you, you can move for me! None of us own it so lets just share... OK?