My Life – Intro

Introduction

Hello everybody! My name is Tim and this is my first blog. Although I’ve never done any blogging, it occurred to me the other day that I enjoy writing and have many thoughts on life, so I decided that blogging would be a good hobby. My goal is to be able to share my thoughts with people in a way that can make them think about how it might apply to and hopefully impact their own life. The main content of my blog will be thoughts and observations of daily life. However, I also hope to have a little fun, so the opening section each time will have a random blurb involving just about anything. I also want to include a weekly Bible verse for encouragement and perhaps as a motivating challenge at times.

I am pretty new to all of this, so I I’m still figuring out what I would like to do with this site. However, I hope to find the time to work with the layout.

I hope to keep this as a weekly blog and post every Friday. In addition, the last Friday of every month I would like to use as an opportunity to update people on my life and update all of my supporters on how things are going in my life and in my work and ministry. I want to use this first blog post to further introduce myself to everybody out there.

First, though, I have one more thing to add. I strongly welcome and encourage comments and would like to hear your thoughts on my thoughts. We can learn a lot from communicating together, so feel free to comment as much as you would like!

My Life

My life has been a journey. This journey continues on. I have learned and grown a lot in my life. I can still learn and grow a lot more. Learning and growing is a lifetime project. Sure, you can finish elementary school, high school, university, get a degree, and a high paying job, but their is always so much more to learn. I would consider myself to be inquisitive and contemplative. I also have a very analytical mind. I appreciate the details. I believe that an appreciation for the importance of each individual detail can lead to a greater appreciation of the big picture. For this reason, I like to look back on my life and see how everything came together so that I can be where I am today. By luck? By chance? No. I believe that God has orchestrated all of the details of my life, all of my experiences, to bring me to the place I am today. I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again. I have trusted in Him as my Lord and Saviour. This is the most important aspect of my life. In reality, this is my life.

Now, some secondary things about myself. I like sports. If I had to pick a favourite team for each sport, it would be Jays, Raptors, Broncos. However, most of all, I am a Leafs fan. (Is this the year!?) I also like reading. Non-fiction is great, but I also enjoy a good mystery hear and there. Poetry can also be great! Music is also something I really enjoy, both playing and listening. Give me just about any genre, except rap… (Though I have to admit, I have heard a couple good raps) Food – Italian is great! Pizza, spaghetti, lasagna are the ultimate three! Hawaiian pizza. Hmm… Pineapples on pizza… Yes!

These are just a few things about me. I might reveal more details later. Did I mention that I love details!?

For the remainder of this first post, I would like to provide a synopsis and an update of what’s happened in my life the past few years. I finished high school and decided to go to school for Developmental Services Work which basically means providing support for people with disabilities. I took a one year accelerated program which had a decent workload, but it helped me to mature in my responsibilities. After college, I got a job as a support worker in a group home. I worked at the same place for nearly three years, two of which were working night shift hours. It was a very valuable experience and I had some wonderful co-workers, but I wasn’t finding my work to be as fulfilling as I had hoped, and I decided that I would like to do something different with my life. It was right around this time that I met with a pastor at my church that told me about a one year Bible program that I could take at a place called Word of Life Bible Institute. I had never heard of the place before, and it kind of scared me to think that I could be going back to school. I had thought originally that I was done with school and set with my job for life. However, the thought also excited me and I so I decided to go with my pastor to check out the school. This was back in May 2017. I visited and I fully believe that God led me to this place. I was going through some rough times in my life and I needed a year to just focus on developing and building my faith and relationship with God. A month later, I filled in an application. I resigned from my job and in September 2017, I started my year at Word of Life Bible Institute. My year at Word of Life Bible Institute, or WOLBI, was one of the best years of my life. Let me take you through what a year at WOLBI looks like. I had the blessing of reading through the entire Bible in a year. Through classes, I also had the privilege of in-depth study of a number of Bible books and biblical topics. I learned a lot, but it wasn’t just all book knowledge. During the year, there were a number of ministry opportunities. For starters, I was the pianist for the campus praise team. During the month of October, all the students went to the streets of downtown Hamilton and spread the message of the gospel to people on the street. I had a number of both challenging and good discussions. It was something I’ll never forget. In January, we had the opportunity of running snow camp during weekends. Youth groups from all around would come and we would host them for a weekend of fun and learning about the gospel and what it means to follow God. In January, we also got to attend a large Missions Conference in New York where we got to hear from many different missionaries from many different organizations. Finally, we ended our year at WOLBI by serving during summer camp. It was a fabulous experience. Kids from all around came for a week of fun and learning. I was a camp counsellor for the majority of the time. It was a very rewarding experience. During camp, we saw about 400-500 campers, around 80 salvation decisions, and about 160 dedications. God was at work.

All of this leads to the present where I am right now. During last winter, I received an opportunity to intern with Word of Life for a year starting this September as the Academic Coordinator. I prayed about it and decided I would like to do it as I enjoyed my year with Word of Life and I wanted to be able to give back and serve. In accepting the offer, I was required to raise a sum of money for support. Thanks to God and the generosity of people, I was able to raise the money. I just started my year as the Academic Coordinator. I am enjoying my job. Some of my duties include preparing notes, grading tests and papers, and just helping out the students if they need it. I am also going to be co-leading the campus praise team and I will be co-leading a Christian book study with the guys. I am excited for the many opportunities of this year and I’m looking forward to seeing how God moves and works in my life and for the many people at the Bible Institute this year!

Bible Verse:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:16

This verse has caught my attention. It is a major focus of mine this year. I desire for God to take my life and let it shine. I strive to do good works that please God. Why? What is the motive and purpose? It is that people may notice my work as God’s work in and through me and praise God. Ultimately, it is all for God’s glory.

That’s it! My first post! Stay tuned for Post #2 coming your way next week!

(By the way, I also travelled to Israel this past year! I hope to write about my experiences in Israel at some point!)