Joint: Connection Point Serving to unite the Romanian youth in Canada

Samir Speaks on Sneaky Sin

Lately, sin has become such an abstract notion, just one of the many terms and definitions I learn everyday at school. Until is recently, I never realized how ever-present sin is in my life, and that I am nothing but a sinner. The devil has many ways to sneak sin in one’s life, for example: small grudges, worries... all of these happen when we get too busy with living our life here on Earth and forget about the fact that we have a greater purpose in life. We are supposed to have our eyesight on Jesus, not on the world. But we are humans and we often look away and get lost from the narrow path. This is why it is important to grow in your personal relationship with Jesus and to walk with him every day, because, if we walk alone we will never have victory over sin.

Samir

Drivers’ Ed and trippy trucks…

It was one of my first days of on-road driver's ed. My instructor was doing his thing, telling me what to watch out for while driving, instructing me where to turn.

"And turn left here," he said.

"Um, onto the highway?" I asked, surprised that he hadn't told me in advance that we would be going on the highway that day.

"Yep," he said casually.

So I turned onto the highway, a bit nervous, accelerated and merged onto the highway. Things were going fairly smoothly until we came across a huge truck that was going a bit slower than the rest of traffic.

"Should I pass him?" I asked my instructor.

"Sure. Just keep one thing in mind... while you're passing the truck, do NOT under any circumstance look at the truck while you're passing it. Look straight ahead, not at the truck or else you'll start going towards the truck."

"Ok," I said, and proceeded to pass the truck. To my dismay, about halfway through passing him, I started driving closer and closer to the truck. The next thing I knew, I was swerving to the left to avoid hitting the truck, and my instructor immediately started scolding me.

"Hey, you looked at the truck didn't you?!"

"What? No... why would I look at the truck?"

"Don't mess with me, young lady, you looked at the truck, that's why you started going towards it!"

"B-but... yeah ok I looked at the truck," I said, after finally passing the massive vehicle.

"You can't look at where you DON'T wanna go and hope that you're not gonna go there. Whatever you're looking at, that's where you're gonna go. You have to look in the direction you want to go, and that's where you're gonna go," he said. "That's how I know you looked at the truck."

"Ok," I said, promising myself I would never argue with (or lie to) the instructor again, especially on the topic of driving.

We finally got home in one piece and I didn't think much of the incident until a while later when a friend was telling me about her parents.

"I realized that I can't look at my parents and say, 'I don't want to be like them'. It may be true that I don't want to be like them, but I'm never going to avoid being like them if I keep looking at them and trying to be different. I have to find myself a good example to look at and aim towards that in order to become different than what my parents were like."

How true I've found this to be! As Christians, we try to avoid being a certain way or reacting a certain way that we know is harmful to ourselves or others. We try to not get angry, not eat so much, not say hurtful things, not gossip, not look at offensive websites... But perhaps our focus is too much on what we DON'T want to do and  be like. Rick Warren said it well:

"Every time you try to block a thought out of your mind, you drive it deeper into your memory. By resisting it, you actually reinforce it... That is why repeating 'I must stop eating too much... or stop smoking... or stop lusting' is a self-defeating strategy. It keeps you focused on what you don't want."

Instead of striving to NOT do something, how about striving to DO something contrary to your normal behaviour? Strive to be loving if you have a temper problem; find a good example of parenting that you can aim toward; strive to say nice things rather than just trying to quit gossiping; fill your time and mind up with wholesome things rather than simply trying not to waste endless hours on the net. Don't just look at a behaviour you do not wish to display, replace that behaviour with the opposite.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... (Hebrews 12). Should you not know where to look, look to your Lord and best friend. He is the ultimate example and ultimate goal.

~Tabs

An Inspiring Winter Morning

One nice winter morning as I rode the bus to school, I stared out the Window and admired the beauty.  I saw the trees filled with snow and in my mind thank God for that. Then I remembered that a few days earlier the same trees were completely empty.  I also realized that a week earlier they were completely covered in ice from a freezing rain storm. Then it hit me, I realized that I know the best artist there is.  That artist is God himself.  Each day we may pass by the same place and see its beauty and each time that same place looks different and beautiful every time.  God is the best painter and all his paintings are alive and more beautiful each time.

Alina Adamescu

October 2009 Youth Retreat

The next Youth Retreat  is quickly approaching! This Fall Retreat is going to take place together with the KWCF youth, so that should be a blast. For those of you who have never come to a youth retreat, you have seriously been missing out. Check this out:

Retreat: withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's forces; a place of privacy; a place giving peace and quiet.

The youth retreats we've had fit perfectly into the above definition. It's a time when you get out of the everyday, mundane routine and escape to a place of peace and quiet. Yes, it's even a time when we "escape the enemy's forces" that sometimes wrap themselves around us as time passes, without our realizing. And EVERY time we've retreated, God has shown up in ways we never expected or knew were possible. --> ask those who were at the last retreat.

So, here's the info you need: Price isn't set yet, but we know it will be around 60-70 bucks a person (which is half the price of our past retreats!)

Location: Silver Lake Mennonite Camp

Date: Friday, October 30 - Sunday, November 1

Contact: Ken McDonald (fb) or Florin Burca (fburca@yahoo.ca)

Joint website blog

Good day all!

I've noticed the drastic fluctuations in joint website visiting throughout the year.... basically we have lots of hits come Joint release nights, and it's all dowhill from there. So, I thought up this potentially brilliant idea: We can post 'articles' or short devotionals on the website, written by you all. These will appear in between issues of Joint coming out in order to have more continuity (so we don't have that 2 month slump in between issues when people don't communicate at all).

I'll be writing more often, but other people will also be writing. Writers don't have to be constant... let's say one day you have a really interesting/crazy story that happened at school and you learned a really good lesson that day that you think you'd like to share with others, you can just write or text me and say 'hey I'd like to write a blog article for joint.' You may write even if it's just a one time thing. (As an aside, announcements are also welcome and will be posted here as well. Feel free to let us know about those as well.)

So, all those interested in writing, you can email me, Tabby: tabby@jointmagazine.ca. Here's to a new page of Joint! I'll start it off...

Carwash Saturday April 18

Attention all carwash savvies!  This is your time to put your squeegie/hose/sponge/soaping skills to use! The carwash fundraiser for the youth retreat (mentioned in the last post) is going to be a blast! So get ready to hang out with friends and have a blast. See info below:

Location: Walmart @Sunrise plaza

Time: carwashers be there at 11am, cars come between 12-4.

Not so carwash savvy? Make signs!! All those interested in making signs the week before, contact Tim Varga: varga-tim@hotmail.com

Muskoka Youth Retreat May 2009

It's finally that time of the year!! RETREAT!!! This time we are going back to where it all started, Muskoka Woods. The theme for the weekend will be "In Search of Happiness", which will be presented to you by Florin Burca. This event is open for everyone so please invite your friends.

Cost: $115 which includes 5 meals (buffet style) and cabins.

Date of the Retreat: Friday May 8 - Sunday, May 10

Sign up and deposit due: Sunday, April 19, 2009. ($30 non-refundable deposit).

Remainder payment due: Sunday, May 3, 2009. ($85)

Contact: Branko Radovanovic via facebook or  branko15@hotmail.com

Chris Muraru track

Looking for the free track off of Chris Muraru's latest album? See link below.

http://www.jointmagazine.ca/rochrisro/

Happy Listening!