Sun-kissed snow

I blinked my eyes. Once. Twice. 

A painting stood before me.

An explosion of blues and whites.

Light spilled out.

Shadows crept in.

The result - stunning.

Sky greeted earth like an old friend.

Meeting in that familiar way.

Different expressions.

One complimented the other.

Rays of sun played hide and seek

In amongst the trees.

Every now and then - I caught one.

I felt comfortable.

Standing tall. 

My shadow - it caught the light.

A cemetery of trees.

Cloaking an eerie silence with beauty.

Resilience stood here.

Through a fire that sought to steal its life.

A black beauty.

Solitary and yet marked by the scars a community has bourn.

These gentle giants wait for spring.

They wait.

Alas - we have left our Narnian world.

Where time stands still - but for a moment.

The road is alive. 

This land it moves.

And yet I will return to that place.

Of stillness and sun-kissed snow.

My skies will carry me there.

Soon enough.

YL Camp Promo Video

So after lots of hard work and editing and re-editing - the YL Uxbridge Rockridge Canyon Promo Video is finished. My hope is that YL Uxbridge kids who went will look back and remember that awesome week and the different ways that God met them in the midst of all the craziness. I hope that Uxbridge kids who are thinking about going this summer will be even more convinced that they want to be part of something like this.

And lastly, I hope that through showing it to adults and kids in Slave Lake, it will be used by God to bring Young Life to this town. I have been sharing left and right about Young Life and doing what I can to get involved in the youth community here. Between outreach lunches, gym nights, and trying to start up a music night for high school kids, I feel I am more and more convinced that Young Life would be an awesome tool for introducing kids to Christ in Slave Lake.

This town has been through so much with the May fire and flood and on top of all that - there is a definite spiritual battle here. I have heard several stories of adults and kids seeing spirits and there are definitely some dark battles going on that most of us don't even realize.

You have to be creative in this town and for the youth - there's just not that much to do and the main entertainment is house parties. I am really praying and hoping that God will show me how to bring Young Life, because I keep meeting kids and thinking, 'Man, I'd love to see his life changed, or her life changed, through experiencing God's love' with a relational ministry like Young Life.

I feel like Moses going up against Pharoah - ill-equipped and overwhelmed and asking God to hand the task to someone else. And yet I am certain that this is why God has called us to Slave Lake.

We got to come back to Ontario for a weekend to see our friends get married and visit family and friends. When we were on our way back to Slave Lake, I felt such a peace. I was excited to go back for the main reason that I feel like God has a purpose to play out through Jay and I and I am committed to stay here as long as He is calling us here.

It is that sense of purpose that drives me. I love that verse... "And I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on til completion until the day of Jesus Christ.."

and without further ado...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQPEhjxXHeg&feature=share