The Beginning...

Well hello there everyone!  It would appear that this is the first blog post of my brand new YWAM blog!  Thank you all for joining me!  I'm going to try and update this thing as much as possible, but I think it would be best to say right off the bat that I'm not making any promises, because I've never been good at those, and I've never been good at constantly updating or checking these things either.  To be honest the best way to track my adventures would probably be either facebook or youtube, but you probably know that already :).

Anyway it's probably high time I got this first entry started.  And what better place to start than the very beginning?  I'm writing this on the very day I left: September 24th, but I'm not sure it will be up the same day.  Oh well, I suppose that's irrelevant now anyway.

I woke up at 7 this morning in a house that is not my own, then went and packed up the majority of my belongings in a house that's not really my own either, hopped in a car that's also not my own, and drove a couple hundred kilometres south to Mississauga.

Two significant things took place on that drive, and they're pretty much gonna take up the rest of this post for multiple reasons.

The first thing that happened was music.  I had the following five songs on repeat for the entire drive.

-Wish you well (TFK)
-The Last Song (TFK)
-What do We Know (TFK)
-Favorite Disease (TFK)
-Home (TFK)

To be honest I pretty much ahd that entire album on repeat, but these five songs in specific stuck out like a sore thumb.  TFK(Thousand Foot Krutch) was literally like a crutch for me in high school.  I listened to them constantly.  The first two songs especially bring memories of grade eleven flooding black into my mind like a broken dam on steroids.

I actually don't even recall listening to those songs since grade eleven, and so the level of nostalgia which overtook me on that drive was almost unbearable.  To top it off, "Wish you well" and, "The Last Song" are extremely nostalgic songs within themselves.

As I sat there listening to those first two songs, I found myself yearning to be a kid again, and wondering how and why I let myself grow up so fast.  But then, "What do we know" began playing, and in its own way offered me hope for the future, and for all the wonderful things God has yet to come in my life.  "Favorite disease" continued that feeling, and, "Home" just brought feel good memories of planning a music video for that song.  Needless to say, it was rather an emotional rollercoaster of a ride.

The second thing that happened was 1 Timothy 6:7-8

"For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these."

Talk about a verse to calm your worries.

I'm obviously nervouse about this thing: It's a new experience, and new experiences are always scary, but worrying is gonna get me nowhere, and God will provide everything I need.  And if God provides all I need, I will be content.

So that was my drive here.  And now here I am.  I'm not gonna lie I got slightly teary-eyed when I said goodbye to my parents for the last time.  Because, yes, I've lived at Muskoka Woods before, but that was still close to home.  I'm not three+ hours away!  And I'm almost completely independent.  It's a strange and terrifying feeling.  I'm pretty sure it's akin to the feeling that the daycare kids get when their parents drop them off at our house for the day.  In their mind, a day is almost a lifetime to be away from their parents!

In my mind, five months is forever!  But I'll get over it, because God's beside me every step of the way, and He wants me to grow and live life to the fullest potential He has given me.  So thank you all for any prayers or thoughts you send my way.  I highly appreciate them all :).


Here we go!