Happy Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey y'all!

So a quick update on life since my last post:
- School is going fine. Module 5 is almost done (1st module of 4 of my second year at Chiropractic college)
- My self assessed level of maturity says I could do better but am doing okay. I have been sleeping in too much this module (on time for classes but not taking advantage of potential time awake in the morning to spend time with God and do errands) which is something I can fix.
- With sports, hockey has started on Tuesday nights and our team is pretty strong this year! Our graduating class has also organized a ball hockey league with all the guys and that has been a blast so far this year. Finally, I have started curling again! Curling is on Thursday nights so I am keeping myself busy on top of school.
- Church is doing well with a new pastor from Arizona and our young adults group are doing a devotional reading through the gospels a chapter a day. So that is going well.

Okay now onto the good stuff that has gave me some inspiration for this post!
So I spent Thanksgiving weekend this year at home in New Brunswick! This is the first time in 7 years that I have done this! I decided the pony up the dough to fly out because I wanted to see the family for the holiday because I am thankful for them no matter what! I love my family and miss them so it is always a pleasure to see them and put a smile on my parents faces ;)
Also! There was another little incentive for coming home this weekend. I got to attend the wedding of RB and DM! Well it's now RM and DM :P. The wedding was beautiful as these two have been through so much in their lives and have stayed faithful to God through thick and thin and now they have more joy and peace then they could ever have imagined. Seeing everyone so happy and hearing the heart warming speeches and toasts really made for an emotional yet super happy occasion.
Something else happened to me this weekend. I met a girl who is absolutely stunning and adorable all at the same time. A nice homey girl with a smile that could light up a room. So as I inquired more about her after that day, It turns out she is interested in someone else unfortunately (for me). It does give me hope though! Sometimes I believe all the good ones are taken as anytime I think their is a potential girl for me it turns out she is taken. There is a ton beautiful woman in this world but finding one that loves Jesus and has the right mix of crazy that fits me can be difficult. Since losing SM last year, this girl was the first girl I met that I have had feelings like this for. So that is a good sign I think. The moral of the story is meeting this girl this past weekend has given me hope. My goodness she's an angel I'm sure haha.
God's got my love life under control so it's best not to worry and stick to what I can control and that is my relationship with Him and who I am as a man of God. God will provide me a godly woman to love the way Jesus loves us. I promise that is exactly what I will do ;)

SONG OF THE POST:
This song is a beauty from the very talented Keith Urban and I hope to some day play this for my girl. I look forward to days where we make memories of us. This song does a great job of expressing how I hope to show my woman how much she means to me.

VERSE OF THE POST:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of you faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - James 1:2-4

Great verse! Lord make my wants and desires match what you want and desire for me. Make me the man you want me to be and that I need to be. In due time all will be complete as I am patient, obedient, and trusting in God. God is good and He does all things well.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments!

All the best and God bless,
John

Summer 2013!!

Hello again! It's been a while eh? Well today is the last day of Summer 2013 for me as I am back to school tomorrow! It has been a good summer for sure and because I haven't written a blog post in a long time, I have a ton to talk about. So to summarize I will try to summarize my summer.

First off I have to talk about my job. I worked as a supplies coordinator for a company that put on the Ride to Conquer Cancer event in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. It was fun job overall despite the long long hours and sometimes hectic situations but being a positive guy makes me always see the brighter side of things. Thanks to this job, I had the opportunity to travel around parts of Canada to do this job. During the Toronto ride I was at the Toronto lake front, Niagara Falls next to horse shoe falls, and in Hamilton. For the Vancouver ride, we were in Surrey, then went States side to Seattle. Calgary just went out to Okotoks and back but it was still a blast. I got to see things I have never seen before like cities, mountains, prairies as well as do things I've never done before like driving large penske or budget rental trucks! I met and worked with some amazing people and I look forward to going back next year if they would like me to come back!

Next, I was able to do a road trip across \Canada with my parents as they picked me up in Calgary and drove me back to Toronto! Highlights include seeing Canada's sports hall of fame, Drummheller, AB (so many dinosaurs and history!  Saw the badlands and the Royal Tyrell Museum. It was fun trying to comprehend everything and putting it together with the what the Bible says. That's just something I did); the Winnipeg Legislature Building (amazing architecture); My old house and school in Winnipeg (can't believe how familiar it all still looks! Blast from the past!); Met some of Mom's siblings as we visited Sioux Lookout and went through Mom and Dad's memories of that place; Overall seeing the country through prairies, lakes, and small towns. I enjoyed myself and look forward to maybe doing a road trip like that with friends or a special woman in my life :).

Next highlight of the summer is the Christian Waterski camp that I was blessed to be a counselor at. I did not know how to waterski or wakeboard but got the chance to learn a couple times out on the river. To some that may have been the best part but for me the best part was sharing the Gospel and being in a position to help youth come to know Christ. My cabin had some great guys who have bright futures ahead of them and the camp was full of so many great boys and girls who have so much potential to be something truly great in this world. It was so special to share with them that Jesus loves you and that what the world offers you in life may seem good but that the truth is Jesus is the best option. I had the privilege to share my testimony with the kids and it was an experience I would gladly do again. When we had testimony times, there were 3 testimonies shared, my good friend JM, and his mother HM. JM i give credit for bringing me to Christ because he was the one who asked the perfect question to me when I could not give a good enough answer. the question was "Why don't you come to church on sunday?". My answer in my head was that I enjoyed to sleep in so clearly I ended up going to church the following sundays and the rest is history as God molded me through the twist and turns of life. Hearing JM's and HM's testimonies brought people to tears and I am not ashamed to say that |I was one of them. The struggles they dealt with that I never even knew made me wish I could have been there for JM and made me admire both JM and HM for their great faithfulness to the Lord who never for a second let them go. PTL!! The Lord is sooooo good! haha

Finally this past weekend I was in Simcoe, ON for the Gentlemen of the Road tour with Mumford and Sons headlining the 2 day music festival. It was great time with friends, playing and teaching many strangers the game of Kan Jam, the music was good, late night bonfires, playing volleyball in SD's pool. It was an all round enjoyable weekend!

Now this next part is not a highlight for me technically but I feel it is important to share it as it shows how great the Lord truly is! The woman, who this time last year I was having thoughts of marrying someday, got engaged this past weekend! Now that sounds like it would be something sad for me but to be honest, ya it hurts very slightly but how can I be selfish about something so glorifying to God! In the matter of 1 year, SM fell in love with the love of her life! PTL! Since the break up, my prayers have been answered as God is doing great things in her life as she is engaged to a godly Man who loves her with all his heart, she has a dream job teaching in a christian school, and I'm sure there are plenty of more blessings that I just don't know of :P. Sure I'm still single and still going through somethings but God has been so good to His children and my prayers for her to be blessed with work and a godly man have all been answered so swiftly. Now I'm just being patient for, if it ever happens, for my friendship with SM to be mended so we can be united in Christ. After a year though, I know there is nothing I could ever do to mend it and it would have to be something supernatural by God. Hey, as long as God is getting the glory, I'm 100% stoked about all that has happened in SM and mine's lives. Someday I will experience the joys of love like SM and our friend KB. I have no doubt in our God as I am waiting for when the Lord see's that I am ready for the responsibility of caring for one of His daughter's heart.

Anyhow, that is all I have to say at this moment, please comment at the bottom after you read so I know if you liked/disliked, agree/disagree with anything I say.

All the best and God bless you all,
Your brother in Christ
John

It's gonna be a long hot summer!

Well readers, it was a transitional school year and it is finally over! Completed exams this past Thursday and now the summer has officially started with a Brad Paisley concert last night at the Molson Ampitheatre. It was fantastic! One of the best concerts I have ever been too. The visual effects were unbelievable and Brad is an amazing guitarist. The only downside was that despite Friday being a gorgeous day, that evening and night was overcast and we had a downpour at the concert for about 10 minutes! I was soaked but then Brad played "Water" and it was all better haha.
On the agenda today was the conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs! It is unfortunate that my boys Blue and white didn't make it but these series' will be some of the best hockey you can wish for.

This post was going to be a bit longer but I interrupted it to send an email to one of my favorite teachers Mr. Ring who is retiring this year. He was an amazing teacher and was my first hockey coach and he helped me through the best and worst times of my life. What a great guy! Our community has been so blessed to have had him in it. Who knows where Browns Flat would be without Mr. Ring.

So the Summer begins for me with 3 weeks straight of work with being a supplies coordinator for the Ride to Conquer Cancer events in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. Busy busy busy! After that I can truly be free haha! I cannot wait to spend days laying on a beach or in a park and just relaxing. I also cannot wait to play Kan Jam and Saucer King with friends. I am also looking forward to going home for a couple weeks to see the Fam and neighbourhood.
With school and exams taking up 98% of my time the last couple weeks, I haven't kept up with my Bible reading but I am not going to stop! I hope to pick it back up this month as I will be on the road with no distractions other than work and colleagues.

VERSE OF THE POST:
I put this verse in the email to Mr. Ring as I found it fitting for retirement. Even though he is finishing his career and mine will be starting before I know it, it is always important to remember: no matter what stage of life you find yourself in, remember that you are still running the race. Be courageous and finish as a strong as you started!

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." - 2 Timothy 4:7-8

SONG OF THE POST:
Great song that has been in my head the past week. God is so good to us. PTL!

Your love is like a river - Third Day

All the best and God bless,

John

comment and let me know what you think or what you want to read more about!

The joy of the Lord is my strength

Hey readers! Sorry for the lengthy delay in updating this. I suppose my procrastination has gotten the better of me with this blog. When I started this I wanted to write and now whenever I think of posting on the blog I think about what I could write about and what songs or verses I should put on and think "that's too much work" or "I don't have time for that" or the ever popular "I'll do that tomorrow" haha. Well it is 1am here and I decided to put the excuses aside and just write something quickly.
So last weekend on May 12th, I ran the Tough Mudder up at Mount St. Louie just north of Barrie, ON. Now for those of you who do not know what this is, the Tough Mudder is a 16-18 Km obstacle course challenge. The majority of the distance ran/walked is ski hills. At times it is almost a 90 degree slope (at least that is what it felt like). With hills that steep you were just as fast walking as you would be running. The obstacles in the challenge involve going in ice cold water, climbing over walls, jumping over trenches and fire, and crawling through mud and water avoiding barbed wire or electric shock wires. The finale of the challenge is called "Electroshock therapy" where you have to run through many strands of hanging wire that will shock you. Luckily for me the wind picked up and dodged a fair bit of them. The worse part of all this that definitely added to the challenge is the fact that the temperature was hovering close to 0 degrees Celsius and there was wind, snow, and even hail at times! So during the whole ordeal we had to deal with numb bodies and the possibility of hypothermia! This can easily have been the toughest Tough Mudder in the world since they are usually held in conditions that are more summer like and not winter like. Well I'm just glad that I got through it. Next time I would definitely need to train for it!! Every muscle in my legs was cramping by the end of it and I almost couldn't stand at times. I was impressed by some of the things I was able to do with a body that was trying to shut itself down.
Also, on a personal note, I am currently knee deep in sin. It is pathetic how I fall into old habits and continue to allow myself to sin. I sin as if it doesn't mean anything and I avoid thinking about how it is effecting me. I need prayer from all of you to help me fight the good fight. The sin i struggle with is so common among christian men and based on this stat i'm sure you can figure it out. In the secular world it is no big deal but as a christian I should consider pornography disgusting. It is but I always find myself going back to it like an idiot. It is a huge waste of time and attention. It ruins my relationship with God and it has ruined past relationships with friends. It has and will hinder my relationship with my future wife! Lord give me strength and wisdom to flee temptation went it enters into my life. For so long I had avoided it this year and now I'm back to where I started. Jesus already has victory over sin and I need to keep this in mind every waking hour to ensure that I do not slip up.

Song of the Post:
This song is a gem from Tenth Avenue North. The song begins with a person crying out to God knowing they need Him and the song does a flip into God replying back. It is a beautiful song and I hope you enjoy it!

God's grace and peace be with you all.
Your brother in Christ, John

You're my Beloved

In the midst of my procrastination and studying, I seem to miss writing on this blog. This post is a treat though! So back in April, my mentor BT and I went to see Tenth Avenue North in Barrie and that show was amazing. God's spirit filled that room and it was outstanding! It is too bad that we couldn't stay for the after show because we had school the next day and we weren't sure if it was going to happen or not.
The beauty is that you can see the aftershow on youtube by following the link in this post. I provided this link because of the story Mike tells in it. It is amazing the illustration Jesus gives us through the Israel marriage tradition. Jesus is preparing us a mansion in heaven and is waiting till the Father says it is ready. Jesus will come with trumpets sounding and what a joyous day it will be! Until then, we must show our love for Him by living a life that is glorying to Him. Enough of this idolatry and adultery! We must live as we are His bride and He loves us more than anything. We need to love Him the same.

Check out this awesome explanation of a mind blowing illustration:

All the best and God bless,
John

Maple Leafs have clinched a playoff spot!

Hello readers! I apologize for not posting in a while. I have been meaning to write but just never made time for it and now there is just a ton of things that have happened in my life but for tonight something has happened that is monumental for the city of Toronto.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 9 years! I can still remember the last time the Leafs were in the playoffs! I was sitting on the couch with a broken leg watching the leafs playing the Flyers. that was a heart breaking loss as Roenick scored in OT to eliminate the Maple Leafs from the 2004 playoffs. I am so excited for them this year! They are finally in the playoffs and hopefully they can make some noise! They don't seem to have much of a chance to win the Cup with there being some extremely strong teams contending but you never know what can happen once you get into the playoffs. Praise the Lord for the Leafs making the playoffs!!

One of the highlights from the past couple weeks since updating my blog is that I finally got to see Tenth Avenue North live in concert! It was such an amazing show and I left there feeling so blessed! They speak the Word of God with so much love and grace that you can just feel the Spirit of God fill that place. I am so glad I was able to go!
Anyway I wish I could truly finish this blog post with my usual verse and song but I have to go clean the kitchen and bathroom and finish laundry before bed! Thank you for reading and I hope to update this blog again this up coming week to continue sharing my life with you guys!

All the best and God bless!

Father, give me grace to forgive them.

So this post is inspired from what was preached at church yesterday as well as from what is happening in my life. Currently there is a series being done at church on 2 Peter and how to live to be a strong Christian or something. I honestly missed the beginning of the series as I was at another church. The main passage is:

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection(Brotherly kindness); and to mutual affection (Brotherly kindness), love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins." - 2 Peter 1:5-9 (NIV).

The text I bolded is what yesterday's message was on. The concept of how, as Christians, we should exhibit a brotherly affection or kindness to one another. Other passages used were:

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loves us, we also out to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." - 1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited (Do not be wise in your own opinion). Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with everyone." - Romans 12:9-17 (NIV)

Now after all the verses I've given, I don't think I will have a verse of the post as I usually do. Now it is time to say what I have been thinking regarding all this. Clearly, a part of being Christian is being filled with the Spirit and having the love of God in us to give to others. God commands us (and tells us that our faith is evident through) to love one another. Now when we all agree on topics and all share common interests and goals, this loving one another comes pretty easy wouldn't you say? Well while I was sitting in church listening to the message, I kept thinking of how other people treat me and not so much of how I treat others. It may be a pride thing but I thought shortly on how I treat others and made a mental note to try and be aware when I'm not being loving and try to do better. Back to what I was thinking though in regards to how I am treated, in particular, by certain Christian friends.
This is something I have been talking to God about today while I was praywalking (praying while walking). I was talking to him about how after relationships or friendships end, people purposely remove people from their lives, for example when people break up, typically they go separate ways and friends of the people involved stick to their respective sides.
Now in my situation, I went through a break up, and SM decided to remove me from her life and friends of hers that I became friends with also began to ignore me for sometime. Now in a worldly view, this kind of makes sense since what would be the point of being friends. But when I think about this, and how in this situation we are all Christians, we should all be united in Christ and love each other as brothers and sisters should we not?
This is something I talked to God about today and hopefully everything will work out in his due time. In my eyes, no matter what happens between people, no matter what the circumstances, we need to put our pride aside and love one another. Sure it may be hard but to think it isn't possible would totally diminish the power of God's love. If we cannot put our pride aside and love one another and continue to purposely alienate people or remove people from our lives, than what makes us as Christians different than the world? If we don't follow God's commandments and forgive others of their mistakes and allow them into our lives in some capacity so that we may show them God's love to help build them up, than what kind of witness is that? We need to come together as the body of Christ and live in harmony and not let the mistakes or sins in our lives hinder our witness to the world. In my situation, I continue to pray for SM and hope she will someday allow me to be her brother in Christ instead of trying to pretend I don't exist.
It is also interesting to think that we can control who is and is not a part of our lives as if our lives are not interconnected. This world is both huge and small all at the same time. God has set up the connections of people in our lives for a reason and uses everyone in some capacity for our benefit. Sometimes the effect is negative and sometimes it is positive but ultimately God uses them to help us grow. I understand also that sometimes people can come and go in our lives and that is out of our control. But my point is as Christians, we should not force other Christians out of our lives no matter what the situation. Allow God to fill us with grace and love to overcome the hurt that we may be united in Christ.
I know someday God may have us meet to talk about how great his guidance and blessings truly are in our lives and He will be glorified then as I try to glorify him now.

SONGS OF THE POST: Yes there is 2!

Tenth Avenue North - Losing

Last fall during tough times and even now when things seem unfair, I am reminded by God to continue to love them and forgive them because God gives me the love and grace to do so. 

Starfield - Light of the World

We are the light of the world. When we put our pride aside and come together we can change this world. Beautiful song by Starfield.

All the best and God bless!

John

Fluid 2013 Conference!

Hey everyone!
So today I had the opportunity to go to a young adults conference called Fluid 2013 at the Church on the Queensway. It was an amazing day with sessions starting at 9am running all the way to 830pm. It was a long day of messages and worship but it honestly flew by. I hung out with people from different circle of friends which was fun. I mainly hung out with my buddy RW and we went out to lunch with the young adults group from Bayview Glen and then went out to supper with people from Creekside Church. One of the fun part of the day was that after we ate lunch, we still had some time on our break so RW and I went to Golf Town on our way back and we hit a few balls in the driving range. It was such a beautiful day today and I thought: A) I can't wait to start golfing again after I learned how last Summer and B) If I was home in New Brunswick, days like today would have had me playing ball hockey with the neighbours. Oh the good old days where life was all fun and games haha.
Well as I said, today was the Fluid 2013 young adults conference and it was awesome! I took notes for future references and I will share some of the highlights of the messages today with some quotes and concepts that I noted from each Speaker.

Speaker 1: Donald Miller: - Story of Joseph in Genesis.
- "Bad things are going to happen in your life; that's a given. There are two reactions you can have, either 1) You will get bitter or 2) You will get better."
- He discussed the story of Joseph and how God uses the highs and lows in his life to prepare him for the life he was to have. So the highs and lows in our lives all lead us to where God wants us / needs us.
- Challenge question: "Are the goals you set for life meangingful?"
- "If God is going to use you, you will experience pain. Pain is part of the journey."
Pain / tough times in our lives are meant for reflection and growth and without these times in our life, we cannot truly reach our potential.
- He also talked about changing from an external locus of control to an internal locus of control because once we do that, we can change and start living life.

Speaker 2: Sundar Krishnan - Theme was pride and looked at Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4.
- Pride is good at hiding itself on us and we can easily be blind to the pride in our lives since it can be, on the one hand, seen in boasting, or in the other hand seen in self-pity.
- "When we refuse to forgive someone God has forgiven, we're saying the sin against us was greater than the sin against God."
- Pride cheats us out of many things in life because it deceives us on who we are and what we can do.
- Important way to prevent pride is to stay in God's word or have regular exposure to it and community with God's people. They will help keep you accountable. Try this exercise with a friend or spouse: Ask them to tell you where Pride is in your life. The trick is to only ask questions back to them for clarification and you are not allowed to argue with then about what they say. Sundar says this has helped their church leaders realize the pride in their lives. It is a great exercise to keep us accountable.

Speaker 3: Bruxy Cavey - Daniel 5
- The difference between knowledge and application of the Word = Hypocrisy Gap. You want to balance the intake of Gods word with the output of application of Gods word in your life. That way you don't become "spiritually obese" and unhealthy. We need to shorten the gap between all the knowledge we gain with all we do with it in service and loving others. I loved the analogy!
- Repent means "change of mind" which leads to a change in action. the challenge was "what is holding you back from allowing your mind to be changed?"
- Printed Word vs Spoken Word. God gives us the scripture to be interpreted by the Spirit of God through God's people. Ex. Daniel and words on the wall. God could have made everything plain and simple but that wouldn't be good because we would take that and go off alone and be content but God loves to use His people and work together. Thus we need community to interpret the Word.
- "The Scriptures are not God, they are the place to go to learn the truth of who God is. Don't follow the Bible, READ the Bible and Follow Jesus."
- Sometimes repentance means choosing to not quit in the battle against sin. You may stumble but stumble forward if you have to.

Speaker 4: Eugene Cho - Daniel 6
- Daniel excelled. So we should excel because by doing so, people will notice us and notice that there is something else in us driving us to excel. That something else is Jesus that they will hopefully notice. Daniel was in refuge and in the lowest of lows of the Babylon society but he excelled and rose up through society. God used him greatly. Same can be seen in the life of Joseph in Genesis. Obviously God can use anyone and we don't have to be awesome for God to use us. But it is important to know that God has blessed us with skills and talents that we can use for him. Be all we can be and the Lord will do great things through us.
- "When the grass looks greener on the other side, that's a sign you need to start watering the grace you're standing on!" This is a great quote. Such a simple example of how when we thing other lives or situations are better than ours that we need to buckle down and do something about. The Spirit is telling us to start pouring ourselves into our lives, into our jobs, into our relationships. Water the grass you're standing on and MAKE it greener!
- Story of Jesus and the disciples getting caught in the storm on the water. Often the take home message is Jesus calms the storm but it is important to note that in the story, the storm appeared even though Jesus was present. So the storms of this life will happen, the important thing is how we deal with them with Jesus.

Then the worship music with Tim Neufield from Starfield was awesome!
Clearly there was a lot shared today and there are so much more notes to share but I tried to highlight and summarize them. It was a Spirit filled day and I praise God for the great things he has done and will do with this generation of young adults and all those who attended today.
Thanks for reading this long post and please comment.
All the best and God bless,
John

"Keep my eyes to serve, and my hands to learn"

Sorry for the absence readers. I will try to keep this relatively short even though a lot has happened this past couple of weeks. Here is what has been happening in my life:

1. On Tuesday last week I donated blood for the second time in my life! This is something I want to do more often in my life because it is something that can save lives. Unfortunately for me I fainted. It was the strangest thing. I was finished donating and I was lay in the chair holding the gauze in place while my body recovers and they can give me my bandage and I felt fine. I was even on my blackberry reading some of Joshua (side note: Yes I am in Joshua! So stoked that I have kept up with my readings and am making my way through the Old Testament). Next thing I knew, I looked over and an older woman had fainted giving blood or something and I felt concerned for her. I wasn't scared for myself or anything, just hoping she was alright which she eventually was. But then as I was watching the people tend to the lady, tunnel vision started setting and apparently I fainted! Next thing I knew I realized I was sleeping and woke up wondering what happened. Funny thing was that the lady caused a domino effect and I was one of 3 people who fainted in response to her fainting. Long story short, I spent an extra hour at the clinic recovering and eating tons of juice and cookies. Lesson learned is to drink more food and water the day before and day of donating to ensure my body is truly ready for duty.

2.  Ball hockey intramurals were last week at school and it was a blast. I got to showcase some skill on the court which I was complimented on by my classmates. It does make me feel good to hear people think I'm good at hockey. We lost in the final on Friday which sucked but I played good and made some good plays. One of which resulted in a goal so I have nothing to be ashamed of. Ball hockey may have been the reason I fainted too since I may have been a tad dehydrated from the 2 games I played on Monday.

3. I've started playing guitar for the music portion of worship of one of the young adult groups I attend. I am happy to know that I have the ability to do this since I have always had doubts in my guitar and singing ability. I have helped out twice and it is going well. Really feel good about this and I think it will open up doors for me to continue doing this with the other young adults group I attend at a different Church.

4. I also got a summer job on a travel team to help run events that raise money for Cancer. Pretty excited for that since I will be in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary this summer working. Should be a great time but a lot of work.

5. Participated in "Coldest Night of the Year" as well on February 23rd! It's a walk-a-thon to raise funds for Yonge Street Missions which look after the homeless. It was a great experience that I will do again. It was nice to walk around Downtown Toronto and take in the sights, share the walk with others and have some laughs, and show the community that we care!

VERSE OF THE POST:
"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be alert and of self control (have self control). Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:7,8

This verse was written on the first page of my Dad's bible given to him by his parents when he went away to the military. I think this verse is wonderful! The Lord loves us and we can just heave our problems and worries for Him to take care of. Also, it is a reminder for us to be on guard since it is easy to fall into sin because the devil is always ready to help trip us up (which happened this week. Argh so dumb! God is so good to me though so I will keep living off his victory over sin!). This verse was a great choice by grandma and grandpa Neal for Dad. Hopefully someday Dad will realize this and I can give him back his bible when he is ready to use it! haha :)

SONG OF THE POST:
It was either "I will wait" or "Below my feet" both by Mumford & Sons. Going to see them in the August and I am so excited for it! "I will wait" was an unofficial theme for our team this week in Ball hockey and these two songs are favorites of mine. I will wait, I will wait for you!

Thanks for reading and please comment or message me and let me know what you think!
All the best and God bless!
John

The rant from posts past.

Hello again! This post is from a previous post where I edited out a portion of it because I felt I was getting off topic/ it was getting long. I believe what I wrote needs to be said because it may have been inspired. So here is the "lost post" as I can call it as I rediscovered it and am posting it now for your reading pleasure!

"I am also left with the knowledge of knowing how great God is! You see, I'm not writing about SM to complain or vent or grief, I am writing to show how God works in my life so others may be encouraged. You see, after the break-up, I realized who I really was, where I was in my relationship with God, and how my decisions truly effect those around me. It was a huge wake-up call! It was through the loss of the wonderful woman SM, that God opened my eyes to the fact that I had become 'lukewarm' in my walk with Christ. I had allowed sin to make me complacent with who I was and where I was going in life. Mind you life was going according to 'plan' as I had always hoped to meet a girl in university and eventually get married by 25 but that is not how life works. If you have a plan or an idea, you can't just expect it to happen, you have to work at it and do everything in your power to make it happen while God will guide you every step of the way (if it is in His will)(Prov 16:9). Since losing SM, I've realized that I can't just LET life happen, I must MAKE life happen. So since then, I have drawn closer to God by reading scripture and praying daily (usually start my day with it) to ensure that I give time to God and be filled with the Spirit and truly be a Man of God.  

Now I apologize for the long post but there is so much to say about this since SM was my 'first love' and this whole ordeal has changed my life for the better."

To elaborate on this, I would just like to say that I honestly thank God for all the time I spent with Sarah in our friendship and relationship and I thank God for showing me what it takes to be a man in a woman's life. Clearly I wasn't all I could have been to her and she feel for another man which she went to after the final straw. As for me now, pursuing the Kingdom and becoming a Man of God is priority. God will lead me in the life everlasting which will be better than I could have ever imagined before. 

Thanks for reading and please comment with praise, advice, or any prayer requests.

All the best and God bless!

John

With hurt and hope, I carry on praising you.

Hey everyone!

Today was the wedding of KM and TB and I wish I could have been there with everyone but unfortunately I couldn't make it. Weddings are such a great time. Those two will be so happy together because they have the most important thing to have in the relationship, the love of God. I PTL for the relationship they have and I wish them all of God's blessings for the rest of their lives together. So cute!

As for me being here, single and still trying to understand what that means for me and my life, I feel both a hurt and hope. I read a tweet a few months back that says the average person takes 7 months to get over someone so I guess I'm almost there haha. I'm usually good day to day saying my prayers for SM and hoping the best for her but those times I see or hear about her being with the new guy it still jolts the heart. That's what life is now though. She may have found everything she has been looking for which is wonderful for her considering it is what we all want. That special someone who we can love unconditionally because we know they are doing the same for us. I pray for SM and her relationship with MS because I do want the best for them and if this is God's plan for them both than all the blessing to them right. Why should I be selfish and want her when it is clear that it wasn't working. Who knows what the future holds but in the time being I need to be Christ-like and love her the same no matter what. Hopefully God's will has us being friends someday.
Even though  I want to have a girl to love and cherish all the days of my life, I know that this may not be the time in my life for it. I've always thought of marrying young but now as I see life is shaping up, I feel I may have a larger purpose than to just be a family man who helps people in the community. With being single, I have nothing tying me down to a certain location so I could go anywhere and that is somewhat exciting since God could do anything! It is funny though that even though I realize God has a different plan for my life than I had thought all these years, I still kind of try to hold on to my plans. I still have that relationship mind set. For example, last week there was as snow day and I thought what a great date day it would be. To go for a sleigh ride, walk in the park, stay in and have a cozy day watching movies and have a lovely supper. I'm a hopeless romantic I suppose.
With regards to God's plan for my life, I have something to share with you. Back in November while listening to T-swift's song "Begin Again", I figured to set a date in the future that I believe may be a great day in my life. In the song it says:
"I've been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end, but on a Wednesday, in a cafe, I watched it begin again"
Now I know this is silly but I thought it would be interesting to set a date and see if God will do something miraculous to show me how love can "begin again" in my life. Just a little exercise that I am excited to see how it turns out.

Verse of the Post:

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, So I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.  - Joshua 1:5-6

I have started Joshua this past week as I continue to try to read the Bible cover to cover so PTL for progress. Slow but still progress. These verses are encouraging because no matter what is happening in my life, the Lord always goes before me and is watching over me. All I need to do is have faith and be strong and courageous for God to use me.

Song of the Post:
Already explained above and this is one of many songs that I relate too in recent months. I look forward to the day God shows me where my true somebody is...out there somewhere. In the mean time my past is with somebody somewhere.

Thanks for reading and Happy Belated Valentines day haha.
All the best and God bless,
John

"The story of us"

So this past week I rediscovered MSN messenger and decided to take a ponder into the past with it. Do you remember MSN? Everyone used to use it but now with facebook and text messaging there is no need for it. Anyway, I read over my message history with some people and I have come to the following conclusions:
1. I am so ashamed and disappointed in myself. Some of the conversations I had with people disgust me because the things I said and thought should not have come from a Christian's mind and I am so glad God has changed my heart and mind. "Who I am hates who I've been" for sure and it pains me to know that I was that way for so long and I could have been so much more by now if I didn't go down the paths I did.
2. I truly miss the friendship I had with my ex-girlfriend SM. I'll explain shortly
3. I was such a hopeless flirt haha. I always thought I was just being friendly because I would flirt with no intentions of dating but just to have fun and maybe make girls smile. I also had no game haha.

Anywho, one thing I did this past week was that I read through all of my MSN history with my ex SM from our first year university all the way up to August 2009 and it was so neat to see our friendship progress. After reading all of it I truly realized the friendship I lost with SM. After the break up I have gone over the good time of us dating as well as the times I could remember when we were friends before dating. But now I have had so many memories and experiences we shared come back to me and it is sad to see that SM and I are no longer friends. It our conversations were cute though. The back and forth of "what's up" and "how was your day/weekend?" and my occasional flirting and her story telling of things that happened in her life. What was remarkable was how close we became over the couple of years. We would support each other spiritually by praying for each other and sharing fears and thoughts and I really appreciated that. We were so comfortable to talk to each other about our faith and our lives. She was one of my best friends without a doubt. It was for all these reasons that I decided I wanted to date her even though I may not have been ready spiritually to do so.
There are also so many memories and inside jokes that came up while I read our history:
1. SM calling me a jerkface, stomping her feet, and her "grunt". The grunt was a personal favorite. If you ever got to hear and see her doing it, it is priceless. So funny and cute.
2. Our Revelations bible study that we tried to do in 1st year and keep up over the summer. At least I finished the Book over the summer haha
3. Being there for her through her relationship with JB (not Justin Beiber haha). It was funny to read how they started dating and how happy she was to start dating him and how mad she was after they broke up. I was so happy to be there for her when she needed to rant or talk. I'm always glad to help my friends and I was glad she was comfortable to come to me for support.
4. Our group camping trip in 2nd year at our buddy DL's house. Good times!
5. Our skype chats. Thanks SM for introducing me to skype.

Well I'm sure there is more to write about but it is getting late and I need to sleep. The only thing I'm sure of at this moment in time is that I miss my friendship with SM. The unknown future for us as friends or something more or whether I'm over her or not is all up in the air to me but like I said, the only thing I am sure of is that I miss our friendship. We became best friends and I threw it all away wanting a girlfriend and I was happy with her but unfortunately I made too many mistakes and broke her heart that she wanted me out of her life indefinitely which is the hardest thing to deal with. This won't be the last time I talk about SM since I have so much to say but thanks for reading.

Verse of the Post:
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. -2 Timothy 2:22

This verse came out of our conversation as we were talking and I really wish I practiced what I preached. In our conversations I would sound so wise but remembering back and seeing other message histories I clearly was being foolish. I was so happy for SM who kept me accountable and was such a great great Christian friend.

Song of the Post:
My girl T-Swift has so many good songs that can relate to SM and I's relationship and experiences so I thought "Fine, I'll pick one". I could easily make a playlist of songs that I have felt an attachment to since the break up (comment and I will do so!). So here is one. Actually the title of this post is one that is fitting but everyone has heard it. The one I chose I've related to pretty well and it is well done. It is a great cover of White Horse by Taylor Swift.

Thanks for reading and again comment and let me know what you would like to read!
All the best and God bless!
John

In Christ alone my hope is found...

To add what I said yesterday!
Today I went to Emannuel Baptist Church up in Barrie, Ontario and there message came from Romans 1:16-25.
Courtesy of Biblegateway.com:

¹⁶ I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[c] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”^[d]

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.Amen.

This is what I was talking about yesterday! I'm glad to know Jesus as my personal saviour and to have His free gift of salvation of my life. I know at times in my life when I begin to have a "foolish heart" and put God aside in my life and sin creeps in like a lion waiting to pounce, I am so glad that God does bring me back to Him. He could just as easily let me fall into the "sinful desires" of my heart but He is always calling me back and thankfully I do eventually listen, after all I can't help but be foolish at times. It's sad to know that in my past I have pursued my sinful desires at times on purpose and at times accidentally and it sucks that those decisions to sin or let myself be tempted to eventually sin have effected my life the way they did. The bad part is I've been hurt because of it and I know others have been hurt by it too, in which I am deeply sorry. The good part is that the God allows us to make those decisions so that we understand that God is better than what we sinfully desire. When we realize that exchanging God for anything is the worst trade imaginable, we smarten up and seek Him first! I myself in the past couple years thought I was doing alright and looking back now I "thought I was wise, but actually became a fool". I am so glad God has worked in my life to change me for His glory. At times I miss what I had but I know God will give me more than He has taken away.

Quote of the Post:
"If people change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, the whole order of nature is violated; for apart from the fear of God there is no power known that will hold the evil desires of the natural heart in check." H.A. Ironside

Heard this is church today and thought it is so true. If we don't trust and worship God for who God is, than we start to make up what we want God to be and that opens the doors to sin in our life and into our community.

Song of the Post:
This song was played today and I just love worshiping God with it. Powerful and beautiful words and music!

No power of Hell, no scheme of man. Can ever pluck me from His hand. Till He returns, or calls me home. Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

All the best and God bless!

John

Skating in a winter wonderland

Hey everyone,

So this week was pretty normal. Nothing spectacular but than again, I am so blessed in my life that everything that happens is spectacular in its own sense. So this week we started Module 3 at CMCC which includes our Head and Neck anatomy course. I mentioned this earlier this week but at the end of the week, the hours spent in class and lab for anatomy totaled 13 hours! That is a lot of anatomy in one week!

On a spiritual note, this week has really made me realize how hard it is to change without God. Last fall when I dove into God because of my revelations, I felt complete victory over sin. This past week I have had those thoughts in my head that, once you open the door to it, that sin will come on in and is tough to get rid of. It is discouraging when I fall into old habits but PTL because it is amazing how powerful God can be. On the days where I wake up late, or don't give time to God, I can really feel temptation trying to sneak into my life. When I take note of this and get back into the Word and prayer, God gives me strength and wisdom to walk away. I'll be honest to say that this week was a battle with victories and losses but as long as I remain steadfast in my faith, victory over sin will come. Well actually, Jesus is already victorious over sin! So all I have to do is stay close to Him and I'm golden!

This weekend I'm spending my time at my Aunt's place in Innisfil, Ontario. It's been good so far starting off with going to see my cousin's hockey team play. He's coaching the Richmond Hill select Atom team in a tournament and his son is playing on the team as well. It is so fun and cute to see those little guys play. That is definitely something I would like to get involved in is youth hockey. I plan on getting my coaching certification as well as my Trainer certification so I can help out with a team either as a coach or trainer. They won their game last night and it was a great time like I said. Today has been pretty chill but it started off awesome. The lake is frozen here so I got the shovel out and gave myself room to work with today out there. I tweeted about it and posted on FB as well with this picture:

Isn't that a beauty! I love skating outdoors because you get to enjoy the sights and sounds of the world, enjoy the fresh air, and then you get to come inside and have a hot shower and hot drink! There are very few things that I'd rather start the day with than skating on the lake. What are those things? Well at the top of my head would be cuddling with the woman I love or skating on the lake with other people haha. Clearly the good things in life involve hockey or the love of a woman haha. God is so good! People don't like winter because of the weather, but once you embrace the beauty of it and all the things you can do because of the weather, winter is an awesome season!

QUOTE of the POST:
Told this to my buddy AR today because we were talking about relationships. It's cute and true.
"Love is not finding someone to live with. It's finding someone you can't live without." - Rafael Ortiz
For me this woman would be a Proverbs 31 woman! haha

SONG of the POST:
Even though there is little to no chance, I still wonder if there is anything left from what happened between SM and I. Even though we have not been in each others life for 5 months now, I still think of her and pray for her because that is who I am. When I do think of her, I sometimes wonder if she still thinks of me. It's out of my control so the Lord's will be done. Good song though none the less. Got to love duet bands because it is just a nice sound when a guy and girl sing together.

Well I think that is enough for today eh? Comment and let me know what you think! Good or bad, it's all appreciated!
All the best and God bless,
John

The more I learn about myself, the more I fall in love with God

Yo yo whats up everyone! haha

I was wanting to write last night but I was tired after hockey where yours truly scored a power play goal in the dying seconds of the game to send it to overtime! Too bad we lost. This blog is about me and the story that my life has to tell so expect there to be a few mentions of hockey because I love the game!
What I wanted to write about is the complexity of our bodies and how amazing God truly is! As I continue to learn more and more about how the body is designed and how it functions, I continually am reminded that God had a purpose in mind when designing us.
For example, have you ever looked at the anatomy of our bodies? It is amazing how everything is in the right place to function properly. This past week we have started our "Head and Neck" anatomy course and the complexity of how the Cranial nerves come from the brain and move around the skull to activate muscles, provide sensation to parts of the head and face, and provide signals to glands, is crazy. I swear more than half of the people in class have their heads spinning. I am blessed to be able to take in the info fairly quickly and by reviewing it I am at least holding up to some information.
Back to the beauty! It is amazing how as we develop before we are born, all our nerves, muscles, and bones, even though they all grow at different times during development, grow the perfect way around each other so that our bodies work! Just go and take a look at the complexity of our body with how the muscles, nerves, arteries, organs, bones, and everything else in our body are all perfectly placed in our body for our function! It is amazing and I am so glad God designed us the way he did.
Also, take a look at the physiology and biochemistry in our bodies. The processes that break down and build up molecules and elements in our bodies have so many checks and balances that they run so smoothly without any external invention needed.
Now I know in this world there are diseases and conditions that gums up the works and our bodies don't function properly. It is sad to see these effect loved ones for sure. But again it is amazing how the knowledge we gain can be used to understand how the diseases happen and develop a way to fix them.
Personally I look forward to helping people who come to see me with a problem that they just can't figure out or know what to do with so I can solve the mystery and save the day...so to speak haha.
Even outside of our body, we can be reminded about God! At night if you ever look up (and are not in the light pollution of a major city) and see the stars and the vastness of space it makes you feel so small but at the same time amazed that God made all of it and put it into motion and it just does it's thing. Like it says in Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands"
So cool! Look at the beauties of nature through the vast oceans, treacherous mountain ranges, even waking up to a snow covered land is a sight to behold.
I also read a bit of Job yesterday and one of my favorite parts of the Bible is when God is describing the Behemoth and Leviathan in Job chapters 40 and 41. Those beasts sound so immense and unstoppable and to think there is something greater that made them is awesome!. Like the old school veggietale song says "God is bigger than the boogie man" haha. But God is glorified in his creation and I am thankful for the constant reminders I receive through school and the world I live in.
All the best and God bless,
John

Insert witty or meaningful title here.

Hey!

So exams just finished this past Friday and it feels good to know that I don't have write exams for another few months and I'm somewhat free. To be honest, for a couple exams I did some of the most intense cramming I have ever done because I finished "studying" minutes before the exam. Just enough time to catch my breath, say a little prayer, and continue on working my brain. Overall, they did not go as well as my first set of exams this year but that is expected since there were more exams this module and more material. I do enjoy my time here at CMCC and as I learn more the more I get excited to someday work as a Chiropractor and help people. People will come see me, I will ask them questions, perform some physical tests, and voila: I know what is wrong and what to do to help! If you have ever seen the BBC show "Sherlock", I hope to be as good as Sherlock Holmes in reading people and assessing people in my clinic.
(Side note: I'm writing this entry at my buddy DL's place in Waterloo and his keyboard is so sweet to type on. Way better than my Dell Inspiron keyboard! Ya I have an Inspiron!)

Also this week, I went to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) with my friend SD last night. It was cool to go there again after so many years. My favorite part was the Canada section of the museum. Some may find it lame but I loved the old furniture made out of Maple. Such quality work!

Also, I'm going to get into tea. It's good for you and I think it would be nice to have in the morning. My plan is to wake up early enough to have a tea and muffin while I do my devotions and then get ready for school. The hard part is getting up because my bed is soooo comfy! Anyway, about the tea, if you have any suggestions let me know in the comment section!

QUOTE of the POST:
With exams, I failed to select a new verse so I kept James 1:4 on my whiteboard. I did however hear a lovely quote this past week. I hope to someday have that feeling again :)

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
- Dr. Seuss

SONG of the WEEK:
This song by Adele, I can relate to. With SM in mind, I wanted to marry that girl so I believed, and still do believe, that I would want someone like her. She is happy with someone else and later on down the road of life we may meet again and be friends or whatever. For now, all I can do is pray for her as I wish her nothing but the best in life, even if it is not with me. I personally enjoy this cover of the song.

Thanks for stopping by to read. Please comment and give me feedback and suggestions on what I should write about!
All the best and God bless!
John

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be" - John Wooden

Welcome back,
In the midst of exams and the hustle and bustle of daily life, it is important to reflect on WHY you do certain things and WHAT are you trying to achieve or WHERE are you trying to get too. In my transitional time that I have been going through the past few months, I have really made an effort to try and mature. I believe growing closer to God is essential for this as well as a few other things. I decided to read a book called "The 10 Best Decisions a Man Can Make" by Bill Farrel. I enjoyed reading this book because it is chalk full of wisdom and advice on how to live life to it's fullest. With chapters like "Decide to seek an adventure", "Decide to be Better", or even "Decide to Love", and many more, this book really goes into depth on how you could hone in on who you are as a person and how is God trying to lead you. Personally, one of the best chapters was "Decide to Set Goals" because it is an important thing to do in life. It helps lay out WHAT I want to do and HOW I'm going to do it. So I decided to share a few of my goals in the hopes that maybe it will help me stay accountable to them by knowing other people know about them. Also, feedback is always appreciated. Some of these goals are long term and some are short term (less than a year).

ACADEMIC
LONG TERM GOAL:
1. Graduate CMCC in 2016
SHORT TERM GOAL
1. Maintain >80% average
2. Perfect adjusting techniques, Soft tissue and massage techniques
3. Learn Acupuncture
4. Become Certified in Exercise physiology and/or Personal Training
5. Work with 'World Spine' organization
6. Meet and network with practicing DC's (minimum 50) in prospective areas

PHYSICAL
LONG TERM GOAL:
1. Become bigger, faster, stronger!
2. Run 5 kilometres in under 20 minutes.
SHORT TERM GOAL
1. Run Tough Mudder in May 2013
2. Bench press 215 lbs by June 2013
3. Squat 215 lbs by June 2013

SPIRITUAL
LONG TERM GOAL:
1. Strengthen my relationship with God
SHORT TERM GOAL:
1. Read Bible daily to have it completely read cover to cover by August 2013
2. Pray daily
3. Volunteer at church and in community to serve others
4. Memorize one verse weekly

FINANCIAL
LONG TERM GOAL:
1. Be out of Debt by Age 28

When you lay it all out like that, it really helps to keep yourself focused. Give it a try if you haven't already done so. Also comment and let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading!
All the best and God bless,
John

I saw Goodbye in her eyes

This topic has been on my mind since deciding to start a blog and I hope you enjoy it. The topic is my ex-girlfriend SM. (no real names in his blog for privacy purposes)
(Also, I realized while writing this that I have so much to say so there will be multiple posts about how God has worked in my life through SM so bare with me.)

Today, would have been the 3 year anniversary of when SM and I officially started to date. Unfortunately for me, today will just be another day as SM broke up with me back in September (The night before my first day of school. If you read a previous post, you realize how much of a change I've gone through. Bad timing I know but it needed to be done. But I digress.) Now for those of you reading who don't know SM looks like a mix of Taylor Swift and Rachel McAdams so you can imagine that this girl would catch any guy's eyes. Personality wise, she is her own special self. The way her presence fills the room is amazing. Good times were always to be had when SM was around. She was funny, cute and adorable, and a little crazy at times. Best part about her is that she loves God which is just amazing. Having her in my life was a blessing indeed. Before we started dating we were friends for a few years as well as we met in my first year university.

But now, as it has been almost 5 whole months since the break-up and in that time, I have only seen her once from a far and I haven't talked to her since, All I have left of her is the memories. Oh the memories. It is strange 'how every melody seems like a memory' as I listen to songs on the radio or from the past that we used to listen to.
It is crazy how life changes.At one point I am enjoying 5 years of friendship, and almost 3 years of a committed relationship with a wonderful woman who I was planning to marry some day, and then the next point, the relationship ends, friendship over, and there is total separation and ex-communication. It is truly hard to have that happen in your life. Anyone who has lost a loved one knows that it isn't easy. However, this whole ordeal was made easier thanks to the hope I have in God and the love He has for me. You see, "sometimes good things must end, so great things may come together" and I firmly believe that God is working in both of our lives. Now I do not know what the Lord has in store for the future, whether SM and I would ever meet again and be friends (or even something more if that is God's plan), but since losing SM I have been drawn so much closer to God. Almost everyday it becomes more apparent how God's guiding me in life in order to use me for His glory. It does suck that I lost SM but over time I will fully understand why that had to happen. I know so far it had to happen so that I would grow up and be a Man of God that I am called to be and put my childish ways behind me (1 Cor 13:11). It is encouraging to know that God has a plan for me that will have me do great things (Jer 29:11) and as long as I seek Him first, my plans will line up perfectly with His.
So basically God had to break me to make me who I am today and for who I will become tomorrow. As for my love life, yes I miss having someone to love, laugh, and share my life with, but I have come to realize that I was not mature enough to have a girlfriend no matter how much I wanted one. I'm sorry to SM for the hurt I caused her in my foolishness and I hope someday we can be friends again but I thank God for the times I did have with SM as they will always be cherished. Who knows who God has in store for me, but as long as I trust and seek Him first, when the time is right, I will be ready to love that girl like Jesus loved the church. Which brings me to verse of the post!

VERSE of the POST:
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - James 1:4

SONG of the POST: Goodbye in her eyes - Zac Brown Band
I can relate with this song so well since I did feel/see a goodbye in her eyes/vibe the last time I was with her and she is with someone new who she met before we broke up. "He will love the way she shines". Still a great song that has helped me.

Thanks for reading and please comment and let me know what you liked, dislike, or anything on your mind!

All the best and God bless!
John

#Beastmode engaged!

Welcome back,

So the second set of exams are starting up next week here at CMCC and it is crunch time for everyone to get prepped for them. As for myself, I'm not feeling stressed as I feel confident I have retained plenty to get by, I'm just studying in hopes to shoot for the moon and try to maintain my goal of a high average. So the next couple weeks will be busy and tiresome but as long as I work hard and keep the Lord involved I will do just fine!
Met with my mentor this past week and it is a blessing to have someone who understands what I've been through and who has the wisdom to help me out. This whole mentoring this is a great thing to have and it's something everyone should take advantage of. Having those meetings every blue moon is good to just talk over how things are in life, how my spiritual walk is going, just to make sure we are living to be all we can be. I think I would make a pretty good mentor to some of the younger guys I've grown up with back home. That's why I've let them know I'm available to do so if they want a mentor.
So the NHL is finally done it's precious lockout. The owners and players will be back to making money and the fans will finally get the quality of hockey we've missed. Mind you juniors and AHL are good but the there is just something about the pursuit of the Holy Grail Lord Stanley that brings out the best in us. Also, this means that Fantasy hockey is back! Just another thing that has the potential to consume my life. Hopefully my teams do well this year and I manage them to perfection because there is potential for some cash prizes this year!
Also watched "Sherlock" again the other day. Such a good show! I remember a thought I had last year with regards to him and my work. I hope to be as good as Sherlock with observing my patients and knowing what is wrong with them before doing physical tests. It would be so neat to be that smart and logical.
Finally, (on a more personal note) I feel more temptation the past few days and I think it is because I haven't been in the Word the past few days because I have had school earlier and I slept in once. Boy oh boy is the Devil sneaky. I find myself thinking dangerous thoughts that in the past have led me astray. You see, I've struggled with a particular sin for a long time in my life because when I was younger I didn't set up the proper armor of God for myself to battle it and so I got caught up in the sin and trapped. Habits were formed so it has been hard to shake. Since my wake up call last Fall (2012), I've been filled with the Spirit and feel a new desire to battle the sin and be obedient to God for the love of God and for the love of my future wife. So, even though the temptation has crawled back the past couple days, I am amazed at how God flipped a switch in my life last Fall and the temptation has been almost gone. So PTL (praise the Lord) for His victory over sin that I can hold onto in my life.
Thanks for stopping by and reading! Comment below!

All the best and God bless,
John

VERSE OF THE WEEK:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plants to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11

(even though life may not be what you expected it to be, God is so faithful to His people. It is encouraging to know that God has my life planned out and it will be a great one because of Him.)

SONG OF THE WEEK:

"A Thousand Years" - Christina Perri.
Discovered this song while studying and it is beautiful. "I have loved you for a thousand years, and I will love you for a thousand more". As a Christian man, I vow to love and be faithful to my wife even before I meet her and love her forever after that so the concept of already loving someone a thousand years reminds me of this.

Here's to the next chapter of my open book life

Hello!

First of all, Happy New Year and welcome to my blog! 

This is my first time officially "blogging" since I did blog a bit back in the day on a website called "Xanga". Essentially this blog will be similar with me writing about stuff that happens in my life and being an outlet of thoughts, feelings, and hopefully some wisdom. I hope to update this thing weekly or anytime I feel called to write. I will also try to include Bible verses or quotes that have touched me as well as 'song of the week' since I always find myself having a favourite song of the week that gets played a bunch so I think I'll share that.

I have always considered my life an open book as I have nothing to hide in my life which allows me to freely and honestly answer any question asked. Sometimes in life this sucks because, since I'm human, I do make mistakes and people, including myself, get hurt. This blog will be an extension of my open book life and I hope you enjoy the read!

My reason to starting this blog is that my life went through one of its largest changes last fall with me starting a new school (Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College), moving to a new city (Toronto), and losing one of the most important relationships in my life (my friend of 5 years and girlfriend of almost 3 who I will refer to as SM for her identity sake). With all these changes, I have felt that I have grown immensely with my walk with Jesus and have truly woken up to the potential of my life. It was a painful wake up call but I have finally shaken myself out of the auto-pilot mode I've been in the past couple of years and am really excited to see how God will change my life for the better now that I am going to be proactive in being all I can be. With all this growth, I've decided to share the journey God is going to take me on with you, my readers! (if I get any haha). It still feels good to share even if no one reads it I suppose. 

Well this is the first entry and I hope you enjoyed it. I will be giving background to my life and share my experiences as I continue to blog. I hope you enjoy and please contact me or comment to let me know what you like or dislike!

All the best and God bless!

John 

VERSE OF THE WEEK:  (keep with the growth theme of my life)

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

- 1 Corinthians 13:11

SONG OF THE WEEK: