One of the cool things about concerts

is that no matter how loud you are,

no one can hear you messing up the words.

Ps, Radiohead in Montréal rockéd.

Surprise!

I'm home!

I landed at 4pm on Wednesday (23rd). I spent the next couple days freaking out my friends and family who weren't expecting me until the 28th.

It was fun.

My Aunt Marg and Uncle Steve picked me up at the airport and drove me home. I walked up to the house and my parents were outside. Then they called up some of my family and invited them over and I surprised them too.

I had my friend Brandon waiting at the train station by my house to pick up a friend of mine (who doesn't actually exist) and I snuck up on him too. The next day I showed up at Dave's house and surprised him and his family. Then to Campden to surprise Jon and Stef. Stef freaked out.

Like I said, it was fun.

I still haven't heard any thing about the job in Nigeria. Until then I'll be working on trying to fix all the things my family broke of mine while I was gone. Such as my virus filled computer, over-frozen fridge, cracked cell phone screen (beyond repair)...

Here, there and everywhere!

Hey folks.

I've been a lousy blogger updater as of late. Sorry to all my fans. Don't know how the two of you have been coping...

Soooo.... you may know, but I'm no longer IN Nigeria. I left on Monday. Here's a bit of how things have been going and will be going from here, starting with last Sunday:

Sunday: travelled from Jos to Abuja, hung out with Corinne and Rene in Abuja.

Monday: Flew from Abuja to London, trained to Exeter

Tuesday: Hung out with Chris in Exeter.

Wednesday: Trained back to London, saw Les Miserables in the West End with Debbie.

Thursday: Flew to Belfast, hung out with Kathryn and Esther.

Friday: Toured Belfast, drove farther North. Saw some sights later in the day.

Now, this is all future plans:

Saturday: See Giant's Causway and the rope bridge. Also a whiskey brewery and some other Irish stuff.

Sunday: Meet up with Jayne, see more Irish stuff, fly to Amsterdam.

Monday: Dutch stuff

Tuesday: Dutch stuff

Wednesday: Fly to Roma!

Thursday-Sunday: Italy!! (I don't really have this all planned out yet. But I haven't actually planned out ANYTHING and it's all worked out REALLY well, so I think I'm just going to keep going like this for a while until it stops working)

Monday: Fly back to London, fly home!!

So, yeah. I've been having a blast. Enjoy this picture, taken in Belfast, Ireland. I swear it. No photoshopping was done.

Looking back on the path God has taken me.

I can't stop smiling right now. Read on and you'll find out why.

Let go and let God.

I like that saying. I think it kinda reflects how I've been dealing with what has been happening in my life. I think I've come to terms the fact that God actually is the one running things and that, try as I might, I can't do a thing to stop what He's set in motion. I love looking back on the path I've taken in the past few years. How what seemed like such small details at the time, has ballooned out into these vital assets. After High School, I needed to go to college. Because that's what people my age were supposed to do.

There was nothing I felt passionately about enough to go into debt over, so I applied to the closest schools for various different things. Sheridan, Mohawk... and another one I can't remember. I wasn't one of those High School kids who knew exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his life (was anyone??). I didn't even apply for the same thing twice at the different colleges. Sheridan for Art Fundamentals, Mohawk for Advertising and Graphic Design, plus I applied for Journalism (can't remember where) and something else somewhere else. I was just putting it all out there and seeing what happened. I figured I'd wait and see what I got accepted into and THEN make my decision on what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Unfortunately(?), I got accepted into everything I applied for. Which meant I had to make a decision. I had to pick one of these 5 courses and spend the next 3 or more years pursuing it. That's a tough decision. So I made it easier. I picked the closest school.

Mohawk. Barely a 20 minute drive, 30-50 minutes by buses.
Advertising. I like commercials and I like to pretend I'm creative.

So that's what I did.

I took Advertising for 3 years. I made a lot of good friends. I had a lot of fun. I learned a ton. I learned a lot of computer stuff, learned how to write better, learned how to interact with people who AREN'T Dutch, had friends who weren't Canadian Reformed, and some (gasp!) weren't even Christians. I learned how to reflect Christ to others around me. I learned how to talk to people about Jesus. I learned that some people truly are curious about Christianity and want to know about it. But won't learn unless you reflect Jesus because if you don't, they may never know you call him your Saviour.

I see so much of what I learned coming back to help me now. Pretty much everything. If I hadn't taken Advertising, I wouldn't know PhotoShop, InDesign or Illustrator (computer programs), how to use a Mac (type of computer), or how to design and write something appealing to a wide audience. All of these skills I've put into practice here. And in using them here, even MORE doors have opened for me.

Because I just let things fall where they lay, I went to Mohawk.

Because I went to Mohawk, I learned Advertising.

Because I learned Advertising, I learned even more.

Because of all I learned, I was able be an intern at Rurcon.

Because I was able to be an intern at Rurcon, I was able to be an intern at Beacon of Hope.

Because I was an intern at Beacon of Hope, I've been offered a position at Beacon of Hope.

But that's not it, God's path for me hasn't been that straightforward. So much led to so much more. Had I not gone to Romania, I wouldn't have heard about Nigeria. If I didn't learn to drive a standard transmission back home, I wouldn't be able to drive around here, and would've had much more doors closed. If I didn't buy Rachel's laptop at the last minute, I wouldn't have been able to do... pretty much any of the work that I've been able to.

It's quite the path.

And I thank God for every step.
Especially the hard ones.
Those were the ones I learned the most.
I've learned to depend on God for so much more.
I've learned to let go
and let God.

Back to my ever-present grin.

Maybe you caught it, maybe you didn't. The clue was in the last bit of my path, where I wrote:

"I've been offered a position at Beacon of Hope"

This happened last Tuesday. And I haven't stopped smiling since. It's an opportunity that has come up that would start in October and go for a little under 2 years.
I don't know if I'll take the position. I'm not even sure what all the details are yet. (I still haven't seen a job description). What I do know is that this is another part on the path of my life that God is leading me.

And He's an incredible guide.

One word.

So I haven't been the most loyal of bloggers as of late. But I try, okay?

I'd like to say I've been really busy lately, and I certainly feel like I have been, but if you were to ask me: 'Trevor, what have you been so busy with that you can't write a short, simple (yet thought provoking) blog to your loyal fans and followers?'

I'd probably answer with something like: 'You're a liar. My blogs are never short.'

or something like that anyway.

But I SWEAR, I have been busy. I think. Just been up to a lot and can't really think of what I've been doing.

But I can sum up the last couple weeks for you in one word...

FUN!!

I have been having a BLAST the last few weeks. Just been so much fun. Hanging out with the people here has been the time of my life. Everyone's just so much fun... (not to say that you folks out in the Canadaland aren't, because you are!) A couple days ago it was Anna's birthday. So we went to this place close by to celebrate (literally down the corner from my road) and feel angry at everyone in general for never telling me this place existed! The food is amazing... they even have a pool table!! What else have people been hiding from me?!? So that was a lot of fun. Oh, and a few days before that I got a new housemate. Nick. He's American. Or a giant. Possibly an American giant. But we get along anyway, even though I'm Canadian non-giant.

The girls on the other compound got another housemate (total of 6 in one house!) and I MIGHT be getting another guy coming in on Sunday already. But no one really knows for sure...

A couple weeks ago we went to this hotel to use their pool. It cost 750 Naira for girls. And 1000 for guys. Don't ask me why I had to pay more. I have NO idea. Honest. Why would guys have to pay more?!? But it was nice. Except for the extreme sunburn. Everyone but Kathryn got FRIED. And we used sunscreen... I managed to have a nice red colour on my chest and stomach and that's it. So it wasn't too bad, no one could tell I looked like a tomato unless I took my shirt off. Which doesn't happen too often. It also came in handy for when I started to peel (in giant chunks at a time...) since no one had to be witness to that.

Last night was a blast too. I had the girls (Anna, Debbie, Janina, Julia, Krista and Samantha) down for dinner. I made spaghetti. It was pretty good, if I do say so myself. And after dinner as we were all hanging out, playing games and joking around, Kathy came by with a bag of goodies for me! My awesome family sent me stuff!! I felt like it was Sinterklaas (Christmas for any non-Dutchies reading this). SOOO much awesome stuff. Dropjies, King peppermints, Tootsie rolls, soup packages, chocolate sprinkles (I have NO idea how to spell that in Dutch), syrup for my pancakes (yay!! syrup costs more than $10 a bottle here, so I've never gotten it), Mac and cheese (awesome food for the bachelor pad), windmill cookies... But the best part was all the letters and pictures I got from everyone. Tracy made a really cute card with pictures of Clay and Tori. Sherri sent me a bunch of pictures of Sierra and Tavian. Sierra and Tavian drew/painted me some nice pictures as well. Cards from my siblings and my Oma... PLUS the card Stef sent me a couple months ago came with it (actually came IN the same bag. Don't ask me HOW that happened. I'm just glad it happened!) So that was pretty much the best night ever. Tons of fun with friends here. We were busting a gut laughing so much. Then my package and cards were just the icing on the cake of awesomeness.

I wanted to write an email to each person to thank them for them, but I don't have time right now (sorry!). I'm off in a little over an hour to drive 5 hours to say goodbye to Mike and Megan Ribbins and their super-fun kids Amira and Nico. Can't wait! But thank you to everyone who sent me stuff! You rock and I'll email you when I get back (tomorrow, probably). After that I've only got a couple weeks left here. Yikes! Then to England for a few days to hang out with my old housemate, Chris. London to visit Debbie (she leaves next weekend) and see Les Miserable. Ireland to visit Kathryn and Jayne. Holland to visit family and friends. Then Italy to visit the Pope and Caesar. THEN back to London to fly back home!!

One month and one day and I'll be back in the Great White North!!


eh?

You can always get what you want.

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

I think we tend to remember this text and then hold it against God when we don't get what we want. We get confused at God, we think "I did what YOU want, why haven't you given me what I want?"

But we're looking at it backwards. We're looking at it as if it said: "He will give you the desires of your heart when you delight yourself in the LORD."

The difference isn't huge, but vital to the meaning of the text. We look at this text and then think that God will give us what we want if we have faith in Him. Often people's faith are tried because of this. The person with the strongest faith is not going to get the Ferrari because of it. Our incorrect view of this text is dangerous. People who are sick, struggling with sin... are often told "if you have faith, God will heal/help..." Then, when this healing or the temptations don't stop, they begin to doubt. Their faith was strong, so WHY won't God help them?

"I held up my end of the bargain, your turn!"

Like I said, we often look at it wrong. The first part of the 'agreement' is to "delight yourself in the LORD". Not "think about what you want". We're thinking about what we want. We think that we can then get these things because of our faith, and if we don't, then either our faith isn't strong enough or God is going against His word. If we come to either of these conclusions, we've come to the wrong conclusions.

Once you've completed the first part of the text and are delighting in the LORD, you'll find that the desires of your heart change. You don't want the Ferrari anymore. You just want more of God.

And that's something He's dying to give.

When you delight in God, your heart desires to delight in God

and you get exactly what you want.

Pictures

Just a quick post to let you know I've upped some photos to Facebook.

Trip to Jalingo

Jos Wildlife Park

African thunderstorms

and, per my mom's request, some pictures of things I see and talk about, but you folks don't.

Enjoy!!