Somedays...

I don't care how spiritual you are, or claim to be. I don't care how long you have been a Christian. I don't care how many years you have gone to church, you have to admit that some days you just don't want to... (you can finish this sentence). In my case today is one of those days. The problem is my don't want to list is quite long, maybe even too long to write in this entry. Let's just start with the easy ones, today I don't want to...

1. get up and get going
2. be courteous, polite and friendly
3. be patient, nice and caring
4. deal with people
5. sit in traffic
6. listen to people tell me about their problems...

These are just a few of the "I don't want to" items on my list today. The difference between my past life and now is; I don't let my "don't want to" list take over my life. I look for something positive that will get me from where I am when I wake up, to where I want to be when my wife and kids wake up 1 hour later. If that doesn't work I spend time talking with God asking Him for help, praying for a different mindset or outlook and I then I pray for other people. When you pray for others it is easy to see that, in most cases, it could be worse. Don't get me wrong I have to work at it regularly (OK everyday) but as I said I refuse to let my "I don't want to" list take over my day, my week my life. And wouldn't you know it, it's always those days when people stop you and ask for your advice or it is the slowest traffic day of the week. I'm really happy that I took the time to refocus this morning because it seems like it's been one of those days where I won't be able to get anything done. So far I have had 4 phone calls, 3 people stop in my office for over 30 minutes just to chat and tell me about their personal issues and a half a dozen emails asking me for my advice and council. With everything happening it has taken me over 3 hours to write this so I hope you can get a little something out of it. Well I got to go somebody just walked in.

Talk at you later

Marty

Passing of a dear friend

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of a near and dear friend. Carrie was a true friend in every sense of the word, she never judged me, never spoke behind my back (she always told you to your face), always supported me with my decision to become a pastor but most of all she was always there to listen. She kept me in line and honest, she prevented me from exaggerating the facts and was always honest when my sermons sucked (sometimes maybe too honest).

I will miss her very much. She was my friend, my councilor my hero and nobody will ever be able to take her place.

Marty

Try something different

I was reading Jason Boucher's blog post called I have a Crush on you found here: http://www.slicesoflife.ca/ and in it he sums up everything that I have felt when making the decision to go into ministry. It isn't the lack of experience that stopped me, the lack of support or the opposition from family and friends it was fear. The fear of failure, the fear of looking like an idiot, the fear of disappointing my teacher and mentor, the fear of embarrassing my family, I was afraid! So it took me almost 1 year before making the decision and accepting the call that God had for my life. I made the commitment and have stuck with it for almost 3 years of studying and over 4 years of serving my church, serving The Church.

Last week I preached a sermon on the Future and the fact that if we want to serve we need to leave. We don't have to necessarily have to leave geographically sometimes you have to leave a situation, get out of our rut get rid of the " same-ol' " lifestyle, just leave. Sometimes it can be easy but a lot of times it is really hard. Staying is comfortable, it's reassuring, you know what's coming and can prepare for it. On the other hand leaving can be scary it's unpredictable, it can surprise you and startle you, it can leave you feeling uneasy and unsure of yourself you become afraid. Please don't think I have all the answers because I still get scared, I still worry sometimes and I still fight fear. It took me a long time to accept the Youth Pastor position, I thought long and hard, debated looked at all the pros and cons, analyzed and rationalized and couldn't make a decision. Not because I didn't want to do it, it certainly wasn't because of the Youth, because they are the reason why I wanted to do it they were the pros, it was because I was afraid. It wasn't until I stopped doing it on my own and actually prayed about it that the answer became very clear that I had to do this. One thing is sure when I stop doing things on my own and trust God with Everything in my life those fears stop instantly and worrying turns into excitement of the great things to come.

So for the next couple of days or weeks I encourage you to do something different, try something that you have always wanted to try but mostly have faith that God will lead you through it.

Talk at you later

Marty

Restart 09

I spent the evening last night at the Life Centre to celebrate the end of a 21 day fast. Don't get excited I didn't stop eating for 21 days, well I guess I did sort of. I gave up snacking after dinner so from 6pm to 6am only water. For a guy who could become a professional snacker trust me it was hard. I learned some very valuable lessons over the last 21 days like:
1: I can't do it all by myself
2: When I trust God with EVERYTHING in my life, things run a lot smoother
3: People disapoint, God doesn't
and
4: A life of faith is a life of leaving.

Over the next weeks and months I will try really hard to teach these life lessons to the youth at The Journey. I will also keep you posted on how things are going as we "RESTART" the program. The 21 day fast was very eye opening and it was also a time to get excited about things that will be happening in the very near future. It was like a kick in the pants to GO, get started, leave the old behind and get restart with the new!

Talk at you later

Marty

I'm Baaack!

Hi everybody glad to be back I hope you didn't miss me too much. I'm glad to be back in the saddle as they say. As promised as soon as it was possible I wanted to give you information about me and what's going on in my life and now the time has come.

As you can see by the new blog title some changes have occurred in the last couple of weeks that I wasn't able to share with anyone until now. I just wanted to make sure that all parties involved were told and understood what was going on before I made the official announcement. Well here it is as of 7:30 last night it has been officially announced to the youth and to the members at Bikers Church that I am now the new Youth Pastor for Bikers Church. This is very exciting for me because I have felt called to do this for a while. Clive the previous Youth Pastor has been there for 6 years and has done an awesome job taking care of the youth group and I wish to thank him for EVERYTHING he has done. He was there when most people would have bailed and will still be around on occasion to help me when I need it. He has really helped me fit into this role and for that I will always be grateful. So Clive brother as you move on to new challenges and new beginnings I wish you all the best. I pray for success and prosperity in everything you do, any organization will be lucky to have you. We will miss you and I want you to know that you are always welcome to come and visit. Thanks again brother!

As for me this is a whole new chapter that is starting in my life. I really look forward to restarting, revamping and refocusing the new youth group at Bikers Church. The first thing that we needed was a new name. After much discussion, voting and praying the youth decided on a new name so from now on we will not be called Bikers Church Youth anymore, from now on we are:
The Journey! What an awesome name and I love the fact that they chose it. We are also working on a new website and it will be called: www.thejourneyyouthgroup.com. We will also be creating a blog and will be working on a forum where the youth of the city can come and participate to different Q&A sessions, surveys and discussion groups . I would like to have guest "speakers" and have all kinds of questions and topics. Anything from religion and spirituality all the way to cars, today's events, fashion, WHATEVER. So keep your eyes on this blog for more details as they come up.

Tomorrow I will talk about where do I/we go from here. Where will The Journey take me and where am I going with The Journey.

Talk at you later

Marty

Don't give up on me

Wow I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post but there is a reason and I will share it with you shortly! But for now all I ask is for you to be patient with me as I work out all the details, dot all the i and cross out all the t's. Some new and exciting challenges for me up ahead which will mean some funny stories for everyone to read.

So keep your eyes on this blog as I will be posting some stuff very shortly.

Thanks for your patience and talk at you later

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