This is Manes Lake, Nice eh. 

A place and people I love

I have just returned home from New Bruswick where I had been for a week and I had a blast. The reason for my venture home was so I could head out on our anual "Dads n' Lads" fishing trip on Manes Lake. From Wednesday to Friday there was no phones, electricity, problems @ home, NOTHING! But the camp, the lake, fishin, cards, and the Foreman Men. I love it there. When you're at the camp, the world could end and you would never know. It is just peaceful. I also got to spend some quality time with my Dad, brother, Uncle, and cousins. Some of which I hardly every see except at the camp. I had to miss my trip last year so it made this year all the more enjoyable. Just a great week. Before I left for the camp I got to spend an afternoon and evening with my mom which was good. And just before I headed for PEI I got to spend some quality time with My Grandmother which was long overdue and very enjoyable. Family is one of the greatest things in the world and mine is an amazing blessing to me. We're not perfect but we love each other and I hope we can strive for perfection as a family unit.

And We’re Off!

Well, today is the big day! The youth conference in Moncton starts tonight and we leave at 3:30. Should be lots of fun and I hope that we can really be open to what God has for us this weekend. I started as the Youth Minister (at least for the summer) @ Sherwood Church of Christ on Monday and getting every thing straight seems to occupy a lot of my time! We’ve had last minute sign ups and last minute withdrawals including one of our drivers as of yesterday!! Yikes! But I’m sure we’ll get there and everything will be fine. As for me after the conference I’ll be heading home to New Brunswick to visit my family and then heading out to the camp for our annual “Dads and Lads” fishing trip. I missed it last year so I’m really looking forward to it. So you can read all about it in a week!

A year to the day

May 13th, 2005. Exactly one year from today I will be hearing wedding bells and they will my own! Pretty wild but this time next year I will be a married man. It is very scary and exciting all at once and I'm sure those feeling will be multiplied about 1000 times on the big day.
And if you look outside (and you live in Charlottetown) you may notice that it is snowing outside! And to think one of the reasons we picked this day is so it would be nice and warm, hopefully next year it will be. But either way it really doesn't matter because a wedding is a wedding but it is the marriage that I'm looking forward to. Spending the rest of my life with my lovely bride to be is way more exciting to me than spending way too much on things that will last only for that day! Either way one thing is for certain: There is no way I'm going to have time to write a blog post that day... no chance.

Talkin 'bout my generation

The more I work with people the more I realize that we don't change as much as we think sometimes. As each person grows up and grows older and obviously some changes occur, but to my amazement and utter fear there are many things that stay the same.

From a young age people are taught to revere their elders because of their maturity, and we ought to do that. I believe that you ought to respect everyone or at least treat them respectfully. As I work with youth and young people I see a lot of senseless arguing over nothing, I see slander, gossip and actions that are just mean and hateful. And among them there are the few who have matured a little and have found a way to rise above some of that.

But folks this is the thing that frightens me: I see youth (from which I am not far removed, I’m only 20!) that I work with act in this mean hateful way, and then I turn to those who are “mature” and see the exact same thing! I still see slander, gossip, roomers and the like. And I feel sick. They act in the very same way, they just aren’t so obvious about it.

So I have come to conclusions about maturity and respect. “Maturity doesn’t come with age it comes with acceptance of responsibility.”—Ed Cole
It is about making a choice about how you want to live and living that way. I have more respect for some of my youth then many adults. I believe that you should act in a respectful way to all who are around you, but you will not earn my respect simply by growing old. A tree can grow old. Now let me also say that I respect the wisdom that only comes with age and experience and I am in no way trying to downplay the maturity of those who are older AND wiser than I. That is not my goal. But let me say to the young of which I am a part, take responsibility and gain maturity by your life and not by your age.

1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Spring Cleaning

No school and no work over the past week and for this week as well, is giving me lots of time. And I may choose to use (nice rhyme) that time in any way I please. Last week I spent it sleeping in, relaxing, reading… reading is kind of a strange one considering I just finished the school year and couldn’t wait to not have to read for a while and now I find myself reading “The Great Divorce” by C. S. Lewis. And I’ve had some time to spend with God and really examine and clean out some parts of my life—my spiritual life and relationship with God.

Now for this week I have started the cleaning project that is my room. Fairly disgusting. I’ve just picked up all the waste, compost, and paper and sorted it and I’ve thrown all my dirty laundry out in the hall. The clean laundry and books that I have no room for on my book shelf are on my bed which hasn’t been made or changed for months! Ewwwww! And there is still much to be done with this room of mine. My closet, desk, dresser and book shelves are disasters that need attention. I really can’t believe I let it get this bad.

But you know, as I look around my messy room and as I’ve sorted through my messy life I’ve seen similarities in the two.
1. If you don’t pay attention to their upkeep they will get messy sooner than you think.
2. If you don’t take care of clutter and problem right away, they build up pretty high pretty fast.
3. When you finally go to clean them out sometimes you find things that you forgot were there and should have been removed a long time ago!
4. And finally when you get through the process, yet again, you feel much better.

So I hope that you’re keeping your room and your soul kept up to snuff and if not, God is waiting to help with a mop and pale in hand… for your soul that is… it’s a metaphor… you’re on your own with the room thing.

Mom

Today was mother's day and I, for the second year in a row, did not see my mother on this day. I call had to do as I am in a different province than my mother. That kind of sucks but sometimes circumstances don't allow things to go the way we would have them go. But that does not take away from how special this day is. Not that it's a crazy important event (we don't even exchanged presents!) but it is a day to reflect on the love of a mother and what that means to a life.

Of all the doubts of things I've had in my life and all of life's unanswerable questions, not once in my life do I recall wondering: "does my mother love me?" I always knew the answer: yes. Sure there were times when we didn't see eye to eye and times when there was no way I was going to see her side of things but one thing I always knew and believed in my heart was that my mother loved me unconditionally and she wanted what was best for me.

I think that her love or perhaps more her loving actions are clearer to me now then when I lived many of them. My mother always knew exactly where I was, what I was doing, who I was with, and when I would be back. AND if I was going to be late then I had better find a phone or I would wish that I had found one! You would think I was a freaking criminal! My mother wouldn't let me go and stay places until she or my father had met their parents!! And there are several occasions that I can remember where I was sure I was not allowed to participate simply because my mother was "mean!"

But the thing that I didn't understand was that my mother wanted what was best for me even when I didn't understand what that meant. I have never been drunk, I have never done drugs, I have never smoked, I have never been arrested and I really don't regret any of those things and I can't help but think that my loving mother had something to do with it all.

So I want to say thank-you mom. Thank you so much for your love and guidance that I still value today. I'm sorry that I haven't always been the best son, and that I couldn't tell you all this in person. Thank you for your part in raising me and letting me go as well. You're the best, Thank God for you, I love you.

Back to the Blog

Well well well, I have been pretty slack lately when it comes to keeping my blog up to date. This is my first May post! Many things have happened since cyber-jerks invaded my computer like a great MCC tour with some really amazing people. I've also been to a bbq and MCC's graduation! Finals are over and school is done for another year. I don't have a job right at the moment, the church votes next sunday on my employment as Youth Minister at Sherwood Church of Christ so until then... I really have nothing to do! And right now you are scratching your head (yes i can see you!) wondering, "Hey Ben, if you don't have anything to do, then why don't you post on your blog anymore?!" Good question! The answer: I'm not really sure. It's really kind of funny. When I had papers to write and finals to study for I would write a post everyday! When I needed a break from reading or writing papers or whatever I would retreat to the sidewalk and now I have an AMAZING amount of free time and don't write. Although to be honest not much is happening these days that is worth reading about... although there really isn't much on this blog worth reading about! Either way, I'll do better to keep you posted and I hope you keep coming back!

Thats is for now.