First Impressions

Hello everyone,

I have now been in Hamilton for a week, and there's really so much information to process and so much to report that I'm not really sure where to begin. But I suppose that for all that has happened I am still in the phase of first impressions; first impressions of my housemates, the campus, the city, the neighbourhood, the students, everything and everyone.

But before I get to those, I should first offer an explanation for why I am writing this blog. As many of my friends and family know, I have a knack for entertaining myself with thoughts and dreaming. I also think I have a very conversational style of writing that I have not really used or shared much over the last few years as I have solved physics equations and written lab reports and essays. So this blog is an opportunity to practice my writing skills (or lack thereof!) and open a little bit of my inner life and experiences to those who are supporting me and upholding me in prayer. And I figure that since my generation spends most of their waking hours plugged into the Matrix, er, I mean, in front of the computer, why not use the Matrix...no wait, the Internet, to communicate to other people Heavenly things?

So the following are some thoughts from my last week in Toronto and a more formal "statement of purpose" for this blog.

Today I am 10 days, 10 precious days from embarking on a great adventure, perhaps whose significance will only be made clear to me many years from now. But I have a sense of great anticipation, a sense that like a bird hatching from its egg, or a turtle coming out of its shell for the first time after having hid inside for as long as it remembers, I too am undergoing an "unveiling" if you will, a time when my own heart motives and God's great wisdom, patience and omnipotent preparation will be made manifest, and I will marvel at it all.

Truly, as my brothers and sisters have prayed over me, a great chapter of my life is coming to a close, a chapter whose contents still confounds me, but has nevertheless been unique, full of darkness and struggle, but full of redemption and great miracles, miracles that are hidden and overlooked by the world and even by my own heart, but whose significance and power will one day be made known. It is strange, because I am being asked to say goodbye to so many things, practically the world that I have always lived in, and the only world that I have known, and travel down a road that brings so many questions and uncertainties, and I absolutely can't wait to get started.

Therefore, this blog is:

1. A way for me to bring to a close the first chapter of my life.
2. A systematic way to record the significant moments of my deepening relationship with Jesus Christ
3. But also to bear witness to the work of God in my heart and mind, and to give testimony to others of God's continuing redemptive and revealing work, both in my own life and in others.
4. And in doing so, that I may strengthen and encourage all those who read this blog to further pursue their gift of life that is in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Stay tuned for further developments. And please leave comments if you drop by and let me know what you think.

Cheers, Samuel