Faith

f You Believe You Can, You Can

If you think you are beaten--you are.

If you think you dare not--you don't.

If you want to win but think you can't,

It is almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose--you've lost.

For out in the world we find
That success begins with a fellow's will;

It's all in the state of mind.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;

But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.

So here's the thing. A life of faith is a life of action. A life of action means that you are living by faith. Inaction means that somewhere along the line, your faith has failed, and what you say you believe, you actually don't, because if you did then you would act.

Hair

As you probably know, I have been part of a hair growing challenge. This challenge has gone over 8 months. Tonight my friend Lindsey braided my hair. How very nice of her. Here is photo evidence.

Creation

Dudes and dudettes...

Seriously, some days creation blows my mind. How intensely huge everything throughout the universe is, and then how intensely small are the particles that make these intensely huge things. Even just thinking about the Earth and it's size... it is fairly small, but we are so wrapped up with everything that goes on around us. We surround ourselves with things that don't even matter. We busy our lives to the point of exhaustion to accomplish what we think will bring us joy, when really, it only brings us more exhaustion.

Whereas if we stop.

Just for a second.

Look.

And enjoy.

There is beauty surrounding us. Everywhere. Birds, trees, humans, animals, the sky, the rain, the stars, rivers, lakes, oceans, streams, crops... EVERYTHING declares God's goodness and power.

When we take the two seconds to stop and look, and realize that someone actually created all this, it can mess you up man. In a good way. I like how Psalm 19 words it

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

³ There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

All creation is screaming at you to look, listen, and marvel at what our wonderful God has made for us. The question is, will you choose to.

Redemption

So I have come to the conclusion that Jesus really likes to redeem things. He'll take us in our brokenness, fix us, and use us for His purposes. Man He's good. Some days it hard for me to want to listen to Him, but it is a matter of trusting what He has in store for me. He redeems out of love and it is good. God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good. Amen.

Relief

Man... somedays sickness just stinks. Hooray for grace and people being willing to work. Camp is wonderful for that. People are willing to fill in for you and help you out. The thing that I really like about it though, is that I love the place that I work.

Days days days days

Yes. So you work all day, and at camp, you come home to your lovely room mates. Which is good. Great even. They support you and encourage, and it's just a good time over all. Just a quick blurb into the life of people at camp.

Also sometimes you do campfires. And that is fun.

The End

Jazzy

There is nothing like sitting back and listening to some smooth jazz piano, played by one of the past greats. Oscar Peterson is a personal favourite. His style is so smooth, so fast, so pleasing to the ear, it draws listeners in. He was my first real introduction to jazz piano and as I continued to listen, I fell more and more in love with his playing. As I began to get more into jazz, I began to discover other greats, like Vince Guaraldi (the guy who wrote all the music for the Peanuts movies and shows) Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck. Each musician has their own style of playing, their own taste of swing, and to study and just listen to their differences and similarities fascinates me. It's really cool to see how they differ yet all fall under the same category of jazz. Kind of speaks of regular life, and just how, each person has their own style of getting something accomplished. People go about in different ways to come to the same end. Oh Jazz, how you relate to life...

Have a wonderful evening, and may you rest with the rest of a hibernating bear.

The First Time

Yes. The time has come. Joseph Popma has a blog. Not that this will affect many of you, but it'll be kind of fun. We'll see how it goes.

I chose the title Pondering, Posing and Producing because this blog will hopefully stem from one of those three things, a pondering of mine, perhaps some photos, or something that I have produced, be it a story or a song or some artwork. Yea... that’s pretty much it.

Now this is for everyone who is not at camp currently. I am not ignoring you. Until you have experienced what it is like to live at the place that you work, you won't fully understand why someone else who is working and living at camp, doesn't have time to hang out. Here's the deal. I do not have a car. Being 15-18 minutes away, driving, from Westport means that unless you come get me, I can't hang out. I am 100% open to hanging out, just let me know when. Also my hours like to be sporadic and random sometime, so please be flexible. I am not segregating myself from people, as I have heard it rumoured, because you are not "religious enough for me", whatever that means. I simply have no method of leaving property. You may ask why, on my days off I don't come do things. This is a valid question. The answer to which is twofold. One, living away from home most of the week means that I want to spend my time with my family. They always come first. Also, during the week there can be intense burnout that happens, and if you do not take time on your days off to refuel, then you're done for the next week and you won't work very well, which, when you are leading team building exercises or keeping someone safe while they are 25 feet up in the air, is key to keeping your job. I do want to hang with you guys, and I really hope that I haven't been seemingly trying to distance myself from you. If I have, please forgive me. I hope this may clear up any misunderstandings that have come out over the last month and a half.

I hope that your days are wonderful and that you rest well tonight. Peace be with you.