Wahoo! Skidoo!! Thai Food! - Whatever Next?

Yep we finally got to go on the skidoos on Saturday! We’d never been on them before in our lives, so another first in Canada. For those who don’t know what a skidoo is, erm, see the pictures below! Seriously, they are like a jetski for snow. They have two skis at the front and a drive caterpillar track at the back and drive like a motorbike but you don’t have to worry about gears. You’ve probably seen them in movies, especially James Bond type movies, they usually chase around at high speed on them and then the baddies’ ones explode spectacularly, which is rather surprising given the small amount of fuel they actually hold! Goodness only knows what fuel the baddies use.

Anyway, I jumped on the back of Cody’s skidoo, Heather on the back of Val’s and off we went on a seriously exhilarating ride. After a while they stopped, showed us what to do and then it was Heather’s and my turn to drive with Val and Cody as our passengers. It was such good fun! We were probably out for around half-an-hour and then we went back to the house. After Val and Heather went in I then went out solo following Cody. If the first ride was fun, this next ride was amazing! I only got up to about 60kmh (about 40mph) but that seemed pretty fast for a first go! I asked Cody and he said he sometimes gets them up to 120kmh, a bit more than I was ready for. Maybe after a few goes? Pwah!
I don’t know when we’ll get another chance to go out on the skidoos, the snow has melted again and who knows what the weather is doing? Jim can’t remember a year like it, and he’s just turned ****. Well he’s a few years older than H and me anyway! I’m wondering if it’s us coming over here’s messed the weather up for them. Wouldn’t be the first time!

Thai curry - Mmmm
Today’s excitement was thanks to Dave and Tanys Mosher, Jenny’s brother and sister-in-law, who gave Heather and me a Thai green curry kit for Christmas. Jim and Val were looking forward to it just as much as we were, an enthusiasm that remained even after Val came into the kitchen and her face transformed in shock at the potent smell wafting around – it smelt hot! The meal finally made it to the table and Val was the first in, and… Whoah!!!! I think she found it a bit lively, or maybe she was just suddenly overcome by a passion for a large drink? Our deepest thanks go to Tanys and the lady in the shop who suggested using only half the amount of the provided curry paste rather than the full packet as recommended by the recipe. If we’d used the full amount I think I may have found it getting toward the very hot end of the spectrum and I think we may have lost our landlady. As it was I found it happily spicy and wonderfully delicious. Sadly for you all I didn’t get my camera out, so you’ll just have to imagine what it looked like, chicken strips in a white curry sauce with red peppers and spring onions. Yum!
Val is now converted to Thai food and is looking forward to us getting the ingredients to be able to use the rest of the curry paste. So, many thanks Tanys and Dave, should you get to read this blog entry.

“What next?”
This seems to be the great question that many of our friends are asking which is, I suppose, quite common amongst early twenty somethings and as many of our friends are in that age bracket we’re not too surprised they’re asking this question. What has caught us a bit off guard is finding ourselves asking the same question ourselves! Do we return to Morpeth come the summer or do we stay in Canada for longer? Either way, what do we actually do? With our church at home in flux, starting on the process of investigating whether a merge with the local Baptist church is viable and whether this is what God wants, we’re not even sure what we might be going home to – a slightly unsettling thought! If they do join, will we become Bapticostals? :-) As we pray for our own direction we find ourselves praying with passion that God would strengthen and direct the church leaders at home, that they would clearly know God’s will in all of this. If you’re reading this and you’re in either of the churches, I really urge you to pray for the elders in both churches, they need our support – and remember to tell them that they have your prayers behind them, that will really encourage them. If you’re not in one of these churches but love the Lord Jesus, please do pray for the leaders of Morpeth New Life Christian Centre and Morpeth Baptist Church that God would give them the direction they need. Thanks.

However things turn out at home, we have known from before we were married (heading towards 15 years ago now!) that we never wanted to just be pew fodder but to actively serve God in whatever church He placed us in. That has certainly been our lives these last few years, and no less so here in Lloyd. We have been working alongside Pastor Lyle and Laura and it seems the main thing that we’ve been learning here is how they lead the church and work with the people. It strikes us that through our time here God is perhaps preparing us to lead a church someday; whether that happens and when that might be, only God knows for certain, but whatever the case, it remains our passion to see young people discipled and trained up and catching hold of all that God has prepared for their lives. When you catch hold of even a part of it, boy it’s a life worth living!

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

“I have come that they might have life and have it to the full!” John 10:10

“Where next?” We really don’t know at the moment, we hope it's Morpeth, yet are open to it being Canada, but what we do know is that God has wonderful plans and purposes for our lives. As we stick close to Him and give our lives to serve Him, we know He will unfold His plans in our lives. He has proved Himself faithful so far, and will continue to do so for the rest of our days.
If you find yourself along with us asking that question, “What next?’ I encourage you to consider the following verse and rather than worrying about the future, set your heart on worshipping and serving God and trusting Him to direct and lead you. Of course you should bring your future to Him in prayer, but don’t let it consume you so that you are ineffective today because you are too concerned for tomorrow – the only moment we can serve Him in is now, yesterday has already passed and tomorrow is yet to come.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3

Steve