Hermeneutized???

Bonjour toute le monde,

Je pense que je vais ecrit cet entree en francais, oh wait I cant write French and many of you don't read it, lets try English.

If that was confusing then you can understand this past week for me. Hermeneutics is a deep class with a lot of information and I believe people are correct when they say it is more appreciated when you have some time to digest it. I have been digesting a lot lately. We have an assignment for Spiritual Formation dealing with what Proverbs says about the heart. I am proud to say that with one week left to write a 6 page paper I have a thesis. It was a long arduous process but it forced me to think through some cool stuff about the heart and I have memorized a pile of scripture through it so it was definitely a time of confusion for the better.

This past week at youth group was pretty fun. The boys in our group actually had some questions and we were able to share a better understanding of each other. I am coming to the realization that these kids know very little about God and the bible and I can see the huge potential for them to find a passion for learning more. They ask what seem to be kind of simple questions but really these are just the first steps. Very cool opportunities arising in the future.

On the topic of church, today Bob, Matt and myself were scheduled to lead the grade 5 to 8 Sunday school group. We got to share some cool stuff about how God just want them to know him, sang a couple tunes, played some games and ate a pile of oreos. Always a good time. It's cool to see such a sweet dynamic of kids brought up with a faith and kids who are so completely new to the whole Christianity scene.

This week we are heading out surfing! Or at least to the place where surfing takes place. I hear that our experience will be dependent on the weather and size of the surf. Apparently the surf has been reported around 9 meters! A little big for beginners but there is a world class surf competition going on while we are there so we will get to see some of the best surfing in the world, pretty stoked on that.

I would ask that people be praying for the Warmland youth, that the kids there would hunger to know Christ, that they would keep asking good questions, that we would get some sweet opportunities to share the story of God and Jesus with them and that we continue to become good friends with these kids. Also pray for myself and all Kaleos as we have some big deadlines coming up, pray for diligence, focus, rest and productive thought. Pray for our trip, for safety, good surfing, warm beds, sweet bonding time and for God to reveal more of himself to us here at Kaleo. Too give praise and thanks to God for Kaleo, for all that we are learning and for all that is to come.

God bless,

Tim

Hey everyone,

So this last week was not quite what I have expected. We were scheduled for some surfing but as it turned out the weather did not permit. As a result we had some different adventures. Caving, shopping and swimming. Very fun times had by all.

Youth this week was pretty cool too, kids just messing around. It's a bit of a struggle connecting with some of the kids beyonds a "goofing around" level. Hopefully in time I can start to see their hearts soften a bit.

Yeah, this week I have developed many theological and spiritual questions. The mix of hermeneutics prep work, spiritual formation post work and time to just sit and think some stuff through has opened up some great conversations and trains of thought. I huge prayer request for me right now is for clarity. Things can get jumbled up pretty easy and a clarified sense of thinking would be great as I dive in this week with hermeneutics. God is moving in some very confusing ways in my life. I guess the first step to understanding more is becoming utterly confused first.

I appreciate all your prayers and please write letters, postcards or send off emails.

God bless,

Tim

SALTS

Bonjour amigos,

I guess I am felling multi-cultural today. Well a lot has gone down in a week. Perhaps one of the coolest experiences of my life happened this week, and it didn't even pivot around Switchfoot! Weird I know. This past week I had the privilege of spending five days on 120 foot tall ship called the Pacific Grace. It was so cool. We left last Monday from Victoria and sailed north through some of the islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

On the ship, myself and the 27 other Kaleos were divided into three groups, mine was called Starboard watch. Each group cycled through the different responsibilities on the ship. The crew only had 5 people so they needed our help to even move the ship. Our jobs varied from steering the ship, to being on watch for other ships and things in the water as well as man over boards, or washing dishes. When ever we hoisted or let down the sails that required everyone. We also had lessons every day on sailing stuff like navigation, knots, parts of the ship and so on.

While that sounds like we were just worked hard the truth is there was s much hang out time. We also had a couple days of sweet trips to these islands. We would lower the dories into the water and row ashore. One island had some great apple trees, the other had some sick abandoned houses. We also had mug-up times in the evenings. After supper we would all gather and have tuck n' tidy competitions between the guys and the girls where we had to clean the sleeping quarters and make some sweet presentation to impress the judges. Let it be known here that the guys, for the first time in Kaleo history, won this contest. Woot. Then after cleaning we would play games on the ship. Our favorite was this game called camouflage, a weird version of hide and seek. Then we would go below deck into the hold where we would sing songs and have a snack. Then we had our devotional time led by one of the Kaleo leaders. The crew were super awesome too, they had some great stories and the skipper, Tony, had a sweet beard, like five inches from all sides of his face, super nice guy too.

My favorite part of this trip was divided into two memories. The first was sitting 75 feet up on top of the mast. The solitude up there was so good for being on a small boat with forty people for five days. I seemed to meet God up there in a way. I had this one view on the last day of the city on one side of the channel and the mountains on the other. I laughed at how good God is at making beautiful things and how much people suck at it.

My other favorite part was spending night watch with Jim Badke. Night watch is when we each got up in the middle of the night in pairs and made sure the boat wasn't drifting at night while everyone slept. Usually it is just sitting there with someone and talking and so I loved it. Got to know some people in really cool ways but this one night with Jimbad was especially cool. We talked about some really cool stuff. I won't reveal all the contents of this personal conversation but the one thing that I really took away from it was the point of salvation. I don't believe that salvation comes through our decision to "accept Jesus into our hearts" because that would be us saving ourselves in a way. Ephesians say that we are called out by God and therefore is all his doing, truth be told I find more comfort in his saving abilities than mine anyway. The question is at what point am I saved. That one decision at the emotional worship service during a youth retreat isn't enough to transform us. Paul frequently talks about how transformation is a process and not an experience. Then Jimbad pointed out to me that Paul told Timothy to learn from the lives of people and to become convinced over time. I don't know yet.

This is my current theological/spiritual struggle. I really appreciate all the prayers and support. This week is just hanging out until class next week so pray for rest and that I get my homework done. Happy Thanksgiving,

Na (Tim)

Kids

Hey there everyone.

Another post here for you all. Had an incredible time in my first class which was spiritual formation. A lot of stuff to digest and think through. A lot of growing started though, so I am pumped for more classes and piecing it all together.

This morning I was at my church Warmland and I was in the kids program during the service for the first time. I had a blast with these kids! I was running games. I had three different groups come through, the oldest kids, the youngest kids and then the middle ones. The oldest kids were a little hyper to the point where the games just broke down. My favorite was the little kids. We just played freeze tag and they loved it. They ran in circles even if no one was chasing them. I one little boy, Adden, grab my finger, thinking he was it, and we chased people for a solid ten minutes straight. If he had let go he would have caught everyone but he just wanted to hold onto my finger. After the whole thing was over they were still running around. I was chasing this little boy named Noah. We ran and ran and ran for at least six or seven minutes straight. Then, suddenly he stopped, his smile turned into a thoughtful face and he said, "I think I am tired now." Just like that.

The joy these kids had really spoke to me. Adden just grabbed onto my hand and ran even though we had literally just met. It made me wonder where I lost that spirit. I think too that God wants us to have that spirit. He wants us to just grab onto his finger and run, taking joy in the fact we are with him. Even though it may seem like we can sometimes reach our goals faster with out him, to want to run with him is far better.

Tomorrow morning we take off for our S.A.L.T.S trip. We will be on a boat for five days straight. I am so pumped to get out there and have a sweet adventure. Be praying for me for safety and that I am able to soak in all the cool stuff the God is showing me. God bless, T.E.

The prelude

Hey Everyone,

As part of my school program I am making this blog to inform you all of my experiences here at Kaleo. I hope you read and enjoy following my year with me as I hope to share what God is doing in my life and how he is doing it.

The Church I am at for the year is called Warmland Community Church. This past sunday was my first sunday. I went in early to help with setup. The sunday morning service is done at the local community centre so every sunday morning a few key people arrive early to set up the chairs and sound system. I really liked the concept of a church setting up because the temptation of calling the church a building is so much smaller. It is way easier to see the people who make up the church, the followers and the newcomers. The service as well was run differently than I had normally seen. It started off with the message then went to the music. I just enjoy the switch up after struggling so long with church formality and identity markers.

Tonight I just got back from the first middle school youth group. It was cool because the kids knew the returning leaders really well and were very accepting if you were willing to get in there. We mostly just played around and did name games tonight but I can see so many great opportunities for the year to come. I can't wait to hang out with these kids and just have some sweet fun.

Well, my first set of classes start next tuesday so I will have much more to say but until then, Au revoir.