A Few Brilliant Ideas...

Ah, the sweet mixture of classical composition, Relient K, and a various mis-mosh of noises coming from the hallway. La-dee-da. We're currently chilling out at our hostal, relaxin' till it's time for bed. I'm hanging out on the stairs, enjoying being apart of everything, but at the same time my very own little unit. I'll probably eventually have company, but until such time as that happens I will share s'more. Today we will be accompanied by my chum Kara. Madam Crisafio likes to pronounce it K-ah-ra while it's actually K-air-ah... I combined the two and made it Kayara. Hehe.

Since we two are the oldest of the group, many times we get the joy of leading our fellows into the charge of whatever activity we are doing. Huzzah for age. In any case, allow me to describe Kara's personality for you. She's basically the ultimate tomboy. I started naming sports and she was like "Yeah, I love those" not to mention the fact that she knows way more about... well any sports league than I do. Agh, manhood failure. As a track runner, soccer player, and who KNOWS what else, I assume she's pretty good at what she does. We've been Quebec for two full days and she bought a t-shirt that looks like a sports jersey. Figures.

Little did I know until today that her abilities go beyond sports. Apparently she plays both drums and piano. (feeling increasingly inferior) Let's just say she wasn't made for sparkles, regardless of whether or not Madam Crisafio is obsessed with them. We like to poke fun at that and at the fact that she stops at almost every dog to adore it. Madam likes to subordinate our group off course. It's actually pretty hilarious. There's a prank war going on between the two girl rooms. I don't know anything about that though because I'm a boy. I'm pretty sure Madam is the instigator. Oh yeah, and I also forgot that Kayara keeps telling me that General Tso's Chicken is made out of cat. I refuse to believe her. I think whenever she tells me that I'll just start beat-boxing and block her out. Hooray for vocal percussion.

Word of Wisdom: Don't trust GPS's to guide you. You'll get lost. Have a backup plan.

Today we went to see a beautiful waterfall, known as Montmorency. It was gorgeous. It gave me some inspiration for song writing, or even writing period. I can't wait to put it into words. In the meantime, I'll write about people though, because while scenes won't disappear, people will. La-dee-dah.

Ps. There are some others that I'd love to write about, but they've been too silly about what I can and can't put into my blogging so I've decided to exclude them until further notice.

This is Stevie signing off until next time,
Au Revoir

It's a little difficult to figure out where to start when you're sitting in a Canadian Cafeteria surrounded by your good old pals (fellow tripeez) and about fourty French speakers. We're currently discussing getting hair in our food because there have been mysterious black hairs... These ladies need to learn to wear hairnets. Yuck.

Anyways... We're only on the second "day" and I already have enough material to keep me busy for at least a week of writing.  Before I actually start, I should probably describe one of our motley crew...

Andrew Boyd (our subject of the day): Some of you may have met Andrew... Some of you may have not. On the off-chance that you haven't, allow me to describe this lovable fellow to you. Andrew is of extremely huggable size, earlier he was described fluffy and therefore having more to love about him. That's my personal view anyhow. He probably knows geography better than anyone I've ever met.  He holds the high score on a app on his iPad. World domination is one of his favorite hobbies I do believe. He's a bit of a history buff. He just said, "Let's go around the table and state our favorite color. Black."
To which I promptly replied, "Racist."
In any case, allow me to get to the point.

Andrew, in his sometimes... interesting attempts to speak French he has latched onto certain phrases...
Well... Andrew has a creeper streak, which I'm sure many of you will understand, as you to have your creeper side. Mine involves crawling up to doorways to check who's there and knowing things that I shouldn't for some apparent reason. N-B-D. Anyway, Andrew had been being exceptionally creepy at some points in the car, one of the creepier being when he uses the phrase, "Oh contraire mon derrier" which translated, means very blatantly "Oh contrary my butt." So, I created The Creeper Count. This mechanism is relatively simple... Every time he does something we decide is creeper worthy, we give him an additional point on the creeper count. As of now he is at eighteen... Andrewwww....

...In other news Quebec is beautiful, the city is extremely clean and nice. It's actually a lot like the pictures I've seen of France. There's so much in terms of beauty that I can't wait to tell you about in future posts. I don't have a camera with me but I'll try and steal some photos from my pals. Oh, there's twelve of us... and we're all unique in our own little way. Quirkiness kablam. Welcome to Quebec.

This is Stevie signing off until next time, ;)
Au Revoir

A question that many non-Christians have an issue dealing with is the issue of evil in the world. When something goes wrong, they question the faith of Christians by asking: "If your God is real, where is he now?"

Well, he's still there.

This morning I was reading Psalm 106 which is basically a listing of all the wrongs committed by Israel. We see a cycle of God's chosen people disobeying him, God's wrath is kindled and then a mediator enters to beg for His mercy followed by his forgiveness.

As John Piper said: 'The passing over of sins isn't a problem for sinners... This was the biggest problem in the world for Paul. How could a righteous, good God of perfect justice just pass over sin?... But he's done it millions of times including thousands of times for you.'

How do we explain this God of perfect justice seemingly failing to declare us guilty? The first thing that needs to be clear is that none of us have a clean slate before God. We are all sinners and no man can enter the kingdom of God if he has committed but one sin apart from God's grace in choosing to save us....

But that still doesn't answer how God can be both just and gracious. The answer comes in the form of the savior, Jesus Christ, the ultimate mediator. In Psalm 106 we see Moses acting as the primary mediator, but he is only a shadow in the past representing a future perfect mediator. Jesus Christ is the ultimate mediator, one that, when he died on the cross, paid the price for all of our sins.

It took a perfect man to pay the price; Jesus Christ the son of God was and is that man...

So why doesn't God strike down greedy murderers with lightning? Well, when God looks at us, he doesn't see our sin, he sees his son on the cross, providing the opportunity for man to come to him... But there will come a day when those that have not trusted on Christ to pay for there sins will pay for all that they have done.

If you haven't already... Come to him. He wants you to enter into his presence on that final day.

"This is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life." (1 John 5:11-12)

I would like to start by saying this is not a direct response to anyone. Try not to be offended and I'll try to not be offensive. :P

I am of the opinion, and this is my opinion, nothing more, that love songs are the easy route to take when it comes to songwriting. If you look at the top five songs on the radio, I'd guess all of them are love songs. Love is something that comes easily to us because it so closely aligns with our hearts and emotions. That makes it great if you want people to relate to your music. However, it takes a more impressive songwriter to make your audience relate to you without divulging your freedom to the topic of love, or even "like" as the case may be.

This is one, but not the greatest, of my reasons for not writing love songs. Personally, I'm waiting till I have someone to call my own before I write a song about someone. Otherwise, time could steal them away from me and leave me with a larger scar than it already would. I'm waiting till I can sing them to her to write them.

The point, however, was that love is such an easy topic to write on. Write on the children in Africa starving because they don't have enough to eat. Write me a song about the coexistence of chaos and order. Write me a song about your every day life. Okay. Now do it well, then I'll be impressed.

I don't know, perhaps I'm alone in these ideas. Perhaps other people find love songs hard to write. Perhaps I'm out of fashion, I honestly don't know.

I do know that in my opinion, an impressive song written about love is easily defeated by one written of equal merit on another topic. I know it's more difficult. That's why I've brought it up. Think of this as a challenge to all you songwriters out there.

It's test day... Well technically(<-I just tried to spell that techniqually) it isn't test day... Because I'm writing this the night before. Anyways, here's today's verse. :)

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The LORD is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes."
(Psalm 118:1-9 ESV)

Beloved, and by beloved I mean the beloved of Jesus Christ,
Do not doubt that God has an infinite amount of grace for you specifically. Our Lord has promised us so much and there is no reason to doubt that all he has done is for our endless benefit. At the end of time, we'll look back at our lives (and all of history) and realize his goodness was always there, and his ways were always right and his hands always just. So though many tests are before you, trust that our Lord will be there beside you, guiding your actions in the way that will bring him the greatest glory. Blessed be the name of the LORD.

^"4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge — ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
1 Corinthians 1:4-9


... Tomorrow is my first test from 7:30-11:45ish... My greatest encouragement is the promise of the faithfulness of God, and the promise of your prayers at my back. Thank you for your faithfulness.

I was reading this in my devotions and I was really encouraged by it so I decided to share it. :)

Psalm 91

Do you know the feeling when you are just so amazed by what's around you? Every once in a while I'll pause and look at the world around me. I neglect the nature of beauty in what I have been given: the glint of the Japanese maple tree leaves, the shadows of the imposing figure of a house, and the beauty of the big, blue, wonderful sky. Being a writer is no easy task, it requires you to be appreciative of the things around you. After all, the things that we take for granted make a wonderful story don't they? When I visit new places, it's easy to be in wonder at what I haven't seen before, I'm accompanied by a sense of... adventure. I become aware that the world is a beautiful place and that I have the pleasure of living in it. God's beauty is everywhere. I want to learn to really appreciate it.

I want to live with that sense of wonder and adventure. I want everyday to be new to me, because it is new if I only take the time to look at it. I'm a writer. It's a beautiful day; appreciate it with me.

Those first couple verses are my life verses. I love them so much. <3 I hope you guys are encouraged by these.


2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
Psalm 55:22
"Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
Zephaniah 3:1
"Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!"
Ephesians 3:16-20
"¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,"
John 16:33
"³³ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

"It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." (Deuteronomy 31:8)

When I cancelled tutoring with Mrs. Ashford for the next couple weeks she sent me these verses:

If you have been in contact with me recently, you probably know AP test season is here... This means stress, stress, stress! The past few days I have received the encouragement of several people through scripture, and I've decided to share a few verses of encouragement each day. If people send me encouraging verses I will post those. I know that without God's help I'm already feeling like I'm about to collapse. So if you have a verse of encouragement, send it to me and I'll add it to the list...
Today will be the verses my mother gave me:

"The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God"- Phil. 4:6

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Is. 26:3

"The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. ...they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."- Is 40:31

"For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall."-2 Sam. 22:30


Prayer is greatly appreciated in this season.
Love ya'll,
Stevie