The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

The weather at Redeemer has been so beautiful this week! Someone just long-boarded by my dorm on the way to class; my neighbours were out on the porch singing worship songs and playing their guitars last night. I even saw people wearing shorts outside! (And we still have some snow on the ground.) It’s just so nice to open your windows and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

This weather reminds me of the Switchfoot song “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine,” because of how much we’re enjoying this lovely weather. Just last week, it was snowing and gray. Classes were cancelled one night because of bad weather, and I know some of my commuter friends missed classes because it took twice as long to drive into school. Like it was no one’s fault, it’s just because of the weather. Then there were midterms, tests, assignments, etc – just a lot of stuff that needed to be done all in one week. Like don’t get me wrong: I love the snow (snowball fights, catching snowflakes, snow forts and stuff...) It’s so cool. And I love school. I actually like learning new things and getting to write reports and midterms were you get to show your Prof all that you’ve learned from them. But the whole mid-term time frame just gets people stressed out and almost dragging through the week.

But with this sun... we’re refreshed, rejuvenated, energized, and ready to a) have fun – because these are the best years of our lives! – and b) dig into our classes with a new energy and a new light. The great thing about both of these last two weeks is that neither of them was bad-- the snowy shadow of last week, or this weeks’ bright sunshine. Neither was bad, just because one was so challenging, I really appreciated this week all the more.

Haha... My Resident Assistant (RA) is vacuuming with our dorm’s vacuum cleaner named Henry right now. She decided to do a bit extra for her chore and is cleaning our rooms too! My RAs are amazing people! When we asked why she said, “I just love the sunshine! It makes everything all the more chipper.” If sunshine gets my room cleaned without me having to do anything, then it can shine from now ‘til the end of April!

Winter Retreat

Wow! What a great weekend! This past weekend an event was put on by the SASC crew (a part of student senate involved in the spiritual lives of the students at Redeemer) called the Winter Retreat. The Winter Retreat is put on once a year and is one of two annual retreats put on by SASC. This year the Retreat was held at a camp in Guelph and about 80 students were there.

We left on Friday night around 5:30 in two buses and when we arrived and had all our stuff in our cabins we had the first worship session. A band from Redeemer called Alpha Praise played several songs and then we had a Redeemer Alumni named Steven speak to us about Community and about Paul's Epistles. He asked us to think about what we think Paul would write to Redeemer if he were writing a letter to Redeemer. It was sweet meeting with small groups and discussing that. After the talk and small groups and some more praise and worship we just played games until late in the morning. Friday night was definitely a sweet night.

Saturday morning came and we pulled ourselves out of bed to get some breakfast (there were some sweet muffins to look forward to but they decided to save them for Sunday but we didn't know that until we got to breakfast). After breakfast we had Praise and Worship time again and then another Redeemer Alumni talked to us. His talk was about Fears and Worries and not letting them getting in the way of our Relationship with God. He encouraged us to go to people and to open up with our fears and our worries and with things that we are struggling with. He also said to not ever think that we are all alone. There are always people there to help if we ask for it and God is ALWAYS there! After small groups we had lunch and then after lunch we played games in the snow all afternoon.

On Saturday night we had another session and this one was also done by a Redeemer Alumni and he talked about having faith in God, and to not doubt who he is. He also talked about maintaining excitement in our faith, to read the bible in the excited manner that Children always do, believing the stories that we read and being excited about how they happen. After that we had small groups and such again and then games until the wee hours of the morning .. just having tons of fun and lots of good conversation with others.

Sunday morning we had a different kind of session, there was no speaker but instead we split up into girls and guys and had our own separate discussions. As guys we talked about leadership and how we can be Christian leaders in many different situations, and also how we can promote leadership among our girl friends. All in all it was an amazing weekend! There is so much more than this!

'Tis the Season

It is difficult balancing emotions at this time of year. Christmas is just around the corner and the thought of fellowship, food, and family gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling. Suddenly, it becomes hard to concentrate on the umpteen papers and exams that will soon reach their due dates. We thought we grew out of our snow pants and rubber boots; well, maybe we have- but we will find a way to squeeze our way back into them.

Maybe it is all in God's plan to schedule exams amidst this exciting time of year. That soft snow falling outside creates just enough happiness for us to get through one more page of writing. God brings us the added joy during a time that proves to be a bit stressful and a bit more busy.

Let's celebrate the life that came to earth to redeem the world!

Snow is good for dorm life

So, it was turning out to be a pretty good day. Wednesday's are always pretty good, busy, but good. Chapel was really good, as we tried to take a look at how technology can sometimes take away from us being actually focused on God. It can take away from us being able to hear God speak amidst all the noise, alerts, and constant communication.

In the evening there were varsity volleyball games, the atmosphere was amazing! Unfortunately we dropped the game in the fifth set to Mohawk. Having three of the guys in my dorm on the volleyball team, you can't expect post-volleyball game to be the best time. Well it was.

First we had devotions and we expanded further on the idea of noise in our lives, we decided to have a noise free hour every night in our dorm, a time where we can still do whatever, but we would try to eliminate technology use. It has been encouraging so far. After devotions and clean-up we opened our back door and people threw snowballs inside. We felt the challenge and responded. We ended up playing red rover and having a snow ball fight for the next hour and a bit, we came back inside warmed up and headed to bed. It was a pretty good post-volleyball night.