I got this in an email and thought is was worth sharing.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
                                My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish.  And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
                                 It doesn't bother me a bit when people say,  "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
                                 I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
                                 Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?   I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.  But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
                                 In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. 

                        Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?" (regarding Katrina)   Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response.
                                She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.  And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"
                                 In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.
                                Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said OK.
                                 Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about.  And we said OK.
                                 Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
                                 Probably, if we think about it long and hard  enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE  REAP WHAT WE SOW."
                                 Funny how simple it is for people to trash  God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.   Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.  Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.  Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
                                 Are you laughing?
                                 Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
 

I got this in an email from a friend. It was one of those chain letters, but I won't make you pass it on to a certain number of people for good luck or to prevent you from having something terrible happen to you like in those chain letters.

It is worth thinking about...

WET PANTS

Come with me to a third grade classroom.... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened.  It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives. 

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat."
He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with  a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.
As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.
The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"
Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.
She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!"
Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the  boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."
May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good.
Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Each and everyone one of us is going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can.

Keep the faith.

This past weekend our Young Adults group at Bramalea Alliance Church did a 24-Hour mission experience downtown Toronto by Bathurst and Queen St. where a small church (Toronto Alliance Church) above a storefront reaches out to homeless and street-involved people. We made lunches and walked around to give them to homeless people and went on prayer walks, and got to know people in the group better. What God emphasized again, as He has been slowly teaching me over the last little while, is a deeper understanding of verses like Philippians 4:13. In it Paul says "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me."
Well, that's great and all because God will help me and things will be good, but what HE is showing me is this also implies the opposite: I can do nothing without Christ's strength. I am powerless apart from Him.

On our walk to distribute sandwiches it was raining and there was no one around. The night before the streets were packed! We went to Nathan Phillips Square hoping there would be people taking shelter under the surrounding ramps. Nothing but tumbleweeds blowing through. We search underground shopping malls, but most stores were closed and we saw maybe 5 people walking through - on a Saturday afternoon - EMPTY! We walked for an hour desperately racking our brains, seeking to do this for God --> we were out there to make sandwiches and give them out, but what was our focus? We prayed to find people out of frustration, but were our minds really set on God? Were we seeking him wholeheartedly and this service was a byproduct of our love for Him? I don't know exactly, but God was confusing us and keeping everything silent - even the streets! But God is ever faithful. He showed up. When we least expected it- I guess just to point out it wasn't because of our efforts. I like it when God shows up. With 5 minutes left til our meeting time we picked up the pace to make it back to the church. An older man sitting on the curb caught my eye so I ran through traffic to give him a sandwich and be on my way. But he stopped me with his talk. He had some things to say about God and church and how he had made his wrong choices, how it was too late for God to save him. And without thinking I was telling him it is never too late to turn to God. God never gives up on you. And I felt as if the words coming from my mouth connected deep within him. As I think back, those words were probably not mine, but put in my lips by the Holy Spirit, with Father God's air supply pushed through my vocal chords by Christ's strength. Yeah, God showing up is good.

We still had to get back to meet the other group, and now we were late (I'm still learning that God's clock is better). Just as we reached the intersection by the church we were met by a group of street people hanging out in front of a First Nations cultural centre. Now the sandwiches started flowing. We just wanted to get back to the church, but God showed up (precisely when He meant to). Where we were rushing was where we also got to invite them for an evening service. We had some sandwiches left and we were able to distribute them all during the service at a coffee table on the street by the entrance. GOD IS GOOD.

So...I learned from 31:4 snaippilihP in the "Implicated Bible" that I can do nothing apart from Christ's strength. I am powerless on my own - and the only time I can move forward is when I cry out to Him. When I throw out anything that is from me; slash and burn anything that is not from Him. Then my pride, my personal doubts, my feeble attempts fade until only HE remains. He can show up in His time, and hopefully I won't be too blinded to let Him stay. Hopefully I will realize He's always here.  Then I am blessed by Philippians 4:13 that I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

I like the way the Amplified Bible puts this verse:

I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

So I finally went snowboarding for the first time yesterday; I joined some friends from Campus for Christ at York. I haven't been downhill skiing for a few years so it was great to be back on the slopes, but it's so different with your legs stuck together, essentially having no joints from the waist down. Very different and a lot more painful with the whole first time learning curve and hard falls onto the buttocks repeatedly. Yeah, lots and lots of falls forwards, backwards, rolls, spins, somersaults, and all that fun stuff from 10:30am to 10:00pm out in Milton. There were some really good boarders in the half pipe there doing huge airs and back flips and even 540s. Later in the day when I could average maybe 2 falls per run I tried the half pipe as well when no one else was on it so I didn't get in anyone's way. At best I managed a few 180s to go down the pipe straight and a few falls in transition. Just trying that and watching others brought a whole new level of respect for the Olympic snowboarders and half pipe competitors like Shaun White who tore it up with huge straight airs and crazy rotations. We sure got a great full day out of the trip with about 9 or 10 straight hours of pounding the snow and ourselves. Each of us discovered new ways of moving muscles and joints in ways we had only imagined. So much fun.

Last weekend I went with my family to Ottawa for Winterlude with great skating on the Rideau Canal. The ice was pretty good there as it got colder a few days before and stayed around -10C so there was no longer and chance of closing the canal again because it was too warm. Yeah for Beavertails! The ice sculptures and snow sculptures were pretty crazy too. It was awesome to see the artists carving with chainsaws and drills and chisels to turn a big block into animals, snowboarders, and ice fishing scenes. We also slid down the ice slides across the river at Jacques Cartier Park on the Saturday night with plastic bag sleds for extra speed. I even saw the Ninja Turtles pushing a bed on wheels in the bed races at the Dow's Lake end of the canal, so it was a complete trip.

Now to rest and watch as much of the Olympics as I can. GO CANADA GO!

So yesterday I had my first Exercise Physiology lab of the semester on electromyography in static (without movement) and dynamic (with movement) exercise. Electromyography, or EMG, is a fancy word for the electrical activity of a muscle when working and resting. To measure the muscle activity in my legs we placed electrodes on my BARE leg skin. Hair can sometimes mess up the signal so now I have three little bald, eerily smooth patches on my right leg - and a cut on my knee to prove I have never really attempted to shave my legs before.

Now what if the recorded signal on the graph was what God often tries to tell us - His voice calling us.

And maybe the hair is all the 'stuff we do for Him' our acts of service which we can sometimes get so caught up in that we forget the central focus of WHY we do stuff or WHO we are doing stuff for.

And shaving is God disassembling our grand plans and removing anything that can interfere with His voice - it's not always pleasant either - sometimes it cuts deep, it leaves us looking funny or different to the world, but then and only then is God able to work within us and show us deep in our core how He created and designed us.

Then we can understand His purposes and plans better.

*Just a thought that popped in my head as I was about to post the first part*

Anyways, It was good fun.

Speaking of fun ... tomorrow I hope to play whirlyball with the Campus for Christ group at York. I can finally go to the weekly meetings with C4C because I don't work on Thursday nights anymore. Yeah!