This Defines Your Life...

It is the Easter season and it seems a natural thing to reflect on the power and importance of this weekend... It seems to me that no matter who you are that what you believe about this weekend radically changes the way you live your life.

This weekend has radically shifted the entirety of history. I am not even making that statement as a Christ follower (though I certainly am that). No matter who you are you have to admit that this weekend, Easter weekend, has shifted the very course of history and the future in ways that we will never fully understand.

The reality is that whether you are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian or Atheist this weekend completely defines the way you live your life.

You are either living your life for Jesus or you are not. If you live your life for Jesus it would be because you admit and accept that He died on the cross for you and was risen again by the power of God three days later. If you are not living your life for Jesus you would admit that you do not believe Jesus is the Son of God and that He did not rise from the grave three days after He was brutally killed on the Cross.

Easter weekend defines the way you live your life...

Are you living your life striving to be the best follower of Jesus knowing that He went through the most brutal of deaths so that you may live in right relationship with the Father?

... I say this often and I will say it again here in closing. I refuse to believe that when we die and stand before Jesus, with the holes in His hands, would be glorified and honoured by His followers living mediocre and ordinary lives. The empty grave ought to be a compelling and motivating factor to the point that there is a noticeable reality in the way we live our lives.

-kyle.trigg
(kytrigg@ambrose.edu)

LYC - Legacy Youth Conference

Every year our school puts on a weekend youth conference called Legacy Youth Conference for hundreds of youth from all across Canada. This conference is run from a core group of 15-20 student leaders that are on a team called CPT (Central Planning Team). Each member on CPT has their own specialty area from business, entertainment, atmosphere, registration and many others. I was very fortunate and blessed to be on this team this past year working with Erin Tjart and D'arcy Watsham in the areas of rallies and worship leading. The three of us have been planning the rallies and the worship for this conference for hours every week since last April. Two weeks ago today this conference took place and before we knew it the conference was all over! It is hard for me to believe that it has already come to a close! After countless hours of work, planning, dreaming and envisioning what this conference could be the reality that it is over is an interesting pill to swallow!

The actual weekend was a truly amazing experience. I had many opportunities over the weekend to just sit back and watch the hundreds of kids from all over Canada (and the USA) enjoy the conference. It was amazing to see so many hours of planning come to full fruition and see God do His work in the lives of those that were at Ambrose that weekend. A lot of truly cool things took place where God spoke into the hearts of the youth, youth leaders, youth pastors, Ambrose students and everyone else that was at the conference. I was so blessed to not only be one member of the team that helped shape and form the rallies but to be a leader on the worship team. The rallies were powerful times where God spoke through our speaker, Ryan Graham, and did a lot of soul work on the people there. I was able to see the hours and hours of frustration, joys, laughter and tears come together just the way God planned it... The conference that God wanted took place just the way He wanted it and I am so humbled that I had the chance to be involved!

Some of my favourite moments of the weekend were:
- Leading worship
- Seeing the creative ideas for the rallies come together and God use them for changing the lives of the people that partook of them
- The band's involvement with the youth from Catalyst youth group (Jon Morrison's youth group) and when I was given one of the cork's from their celebratory sparkling apple juice
- Being able to connect and play guitar with various students over the weekend
- Talking with youth leaders and youth pastors from all around Canada and being able to share the chord charts with the music we played so that they could take it home with them to their churches.
- Seeing all of CPT do just what they were most passionate about and do a great job of executing their areas to a high level!
- Being able to feel the support of the prayer team and other teams that greatly encouraged myself and those I was working with
- I loved being able to teach two seminar's on the heart of worship with Scott Cyr!
- Entertainment night was amazing, the "Lols" were flowing!
- The Riot on Friday night was an amazing opportunity to meet with many students and be ridiculous playing the various games. My favourite was the tiger tug of war type game!
- The extended worship on Sunday night was so freeing because I realized that the conference had come to full fruition and seeing everyone just worship unhindered and completely free praising Jesus. It was powerful. And very beautiful.

LYC was a truly amazing experience, thanks to everyone that was involved! Now it is time for me to continue in my efforts of catching up on sleep and the homework that was put on the backburner for the last month!

Blessings friends!
-kyle.trigg
(kytrigg@ambrose.edu)

The Greatest Tournament on Earth!

Apparently there is a pretty big tournament going on in Vancouver right now. I certainly hope that you have allowed yourselves a few well-spent minutes to watch the amazing events taking place at the Olympics.

Every moment that I have had some spare time over the past couple of days have been consumed by watching the Olympics. I absolutely love them. I think they are brilliant. I love watching the best of the best in the entire world come together and compete at their highest potential so that they may stand at the top of podium and represent their country well. I know that for me I have never been more proud in my entire life to be a Canadian than when I see Alexander Bilodeau, Maelle Ricker, Christine Nesbitt, Jon Montgomery, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Ashley McIvor, Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse stand atop the podium in Vancouver to thousands upon thousands of fellow Canadians belting out loud our national anthem.

There is something powerful when you stop to think that these athletes have trained daily for the last four years just to have the opportunity to win an Olympic gold. They have put all of their time, energy, money and resources into their respective athletic events so that they may come out victorious. These athletes are incredibly driven. They are very intentional. They are disciplined. They do not let past failures, injuries or mistakes define their athletic career, they push on past all the odds so that they may win. And it all comes down to a few moments, a few moments where they represent our nation to the world. There’s something powerful there and that is one reason why I absolutely love the Olympics!

And what an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT ending to the Olympics! When Kid Canada (Sidney Crosby) scored that final goal I went absolutely crazy! I was at Ambrose watching the game in the main auditorium with about fifty other people, and we all went absolutely nuts! We were running around in circles, jumping up and down and hugging, it was such a fantastic moment! And to think that celebrations like that were taking place all across Canada was a pretty cool thing. It was amazing to see the Olympics bring our great country together with a great sense of pride! Not to mention we set a record for most golds… Pretty fantastic! Oh yes, I love Olympics!

What it all comes down to!

The greatest commandment, the highest calling we have as Christians is to obey that which we find written in Deuteronomy. Something I am so blessed about my learning here at Ambrose is that what I learn about class is completely relevant to my spiritual life. I am so blessed to be able to learn class I was learning in one of my classes that what we find written in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. This passage says

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

Ultimately, to live a life in pursuit of Christ will mean that we do those things. If we learn to follow and live this passage, what is known as the Shema, everything else will become a natural overflow from the love we have through our relationship with God.

This past summer I was lucky enough to work at Eagle Bay Camp as the Assistant Summer Director. The Summer Director and Camp Director were in the Holy Land, Israel, just a month before our summer camps started. This trip changed their lives and on one of the teaches that was given to them they learned in detail the importance of the Shema to the Jewish people and the role it should play in our lives. They were really challenged by this teach and when they came back to E.B.C. they suggested that every morning at staff meeting we as a staff recite these passages. What a great way to start off our day! Right after our staff meeting and before we headed out to do camp ministry the entirety of our staff declared with one voice that we will live that day loving God with all of our heart, all our soul and all our strength.

I challenge you friends, start your day off by declaring that you will live that day loving God with all your heart, soul and strength!

-kyle.trigg
(kytrigg@ambrose.edu)

Community Day!

I know that too many students view Community Days as nothing more than a free day off of classes, to be honest, I used to think that when I was a Freshman. But for everyone of you students that were absent from yesterday's community day, you did yourself a major disservice!

We, as the faculty of theology, were so very privileged to have Brian Buhler (from Pacific Community Church) come and speak to us. His reputation preceded him (all faculty I talked to spoke incredibly highly of him as a dynamic and profound speaker) and I must admit that all that I was expecting was blown out of the water! He spoke on Jesus, Holiness and Ministry. It was a fantastic message that every student would do exceedingly well to hear.

He spoke on John the Baptist and how the entirety of his ministry, and his God-given mission was to simply point to Jesus in all that he did. He emphasized to us that as people going into ministries only job is to point to Jesus in all that we do! John the Baptist, the man sent to prepare the way for Jesus spent a whole lot of time in the desert, whenever he was in public he would do nothing but point to Jesus and give all credit to Jesus, when he was not in public he was in the desert preparing his heart and engaging in community with the Father. What a great reminder that is for us to keep on the forefront of our minds as we pursue ministry beyond the walls of Ambrose. We need to know that we are nothing without Jesus, we have very little to offer God beyond our hearts and our complete surrendering of our lives to Him, and we find all of our guidance through intimacy with the Father.

After reminding us that Jesus needs to be the centre of our attention and where all the glory is given he had everyone in the room recite St. Patrick's prayer. It is a powerful prayer and how I am going to end this blog writeup...

St. Patrick's Prayer

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.





Blessings friends, and point to Jesus in all that you do!

-kyle.trigg
(kytrigg@ambrose.edu)

New Year's Resolution (Academia Style)

(I know that my previous blog was all about organization and planning your semester (this one is similar, but not identicle!) ... I wrote that last one at the end of last semester and this one I wrote last night!)



Well my friends here it is, a brand new semester!

There is always such excitement come the commencement of a new semester. Students comparing their courses to see if they can have classroom buddies, the anticipation of getting the previous semester’s marks, the buzz of talking about their Christmas breaks, the presence of new students that we can get to know and befriend, and of course all the “New Year’s Academic Resolutions” that we students make to ourselves…

Anyone who has been at post-secondary school for at least two semesters knows exactly what I am talking about. These are the promises that we make to ourselves that this semester things are going to be different! Last semester we squandered away, but this semester, this semester we are going to get that 4.0 GPA, we will sleep more, we will study harder, we will be diligent in classes and maybe, just maybe get that ‘ring by spring’! Many of us have a difficult last few weeks trying to finish up term papers, study for finals and get all the necessary reading done. All-nights are too familiar for far too many people and with that fresh in my mind; we resolve to be more ‘on the ball’ at the front end of things!

It isn’t that I am against these resolutions, in fact I have made them every year that I have been at Ambrose and I think they are for the best, if nothing else they show our intentions! I think it is just tremendously unfortunate how quickly these promises we make crash and burn so hard, so fast, too often. This is my guide to avoiding the (too often) imminent crash and burn of New Year’s Academic Resolutions!

1. Organization. Read my previous post : )

2. School is a job, well maybe not, but if you view it as one you will be much better off! I owe this to a professor of mine that helped me out tremendously when I was swamped with far too much on my plate. He said if I were to view school as a job that I punched in a 9-5 day daily I would be way beyond okay. He said that if I were to take the normal coffee breaks, lunch breaks and maybe an extended half hour break in the afternoon but did work consistently throughout those hours I would never, ever have to do work after 5 p.m. This is true! If we put in that many hours of work a day which is not unreasonable for us to do (though at times I do realize this is not a reality due to other circumstances at time) we would be so far ahead of all of our classes that we would have more free time than we could imagine. I implemented this and the results were and continue to be amazing! Learn when you study at your best and do your homework then, know when you are firing on all cylinders and be intentional about getting your work done at that time.

3. You need to be involved in things that give you life. You know what I mean by this, things that give you energy, instill passion in your life and revitalize you. School can be a drag, a good one, a worthwhile one, but a drag nonetheless and you need to be doing things that you thoroughly enjoy. It is impossible to thrive if you deny yourself all the things that you love to do. Find the balance here. You cannot just play video games all the time claiming that gives you life and completely ignore the responsibility you have to your studies. You need to do both!

4. Be involved in the community, the brothers and sisters around you at Ambrose are there for you. They will be your support when you need them. They will give you advice when you need help, they will love you when you need it and they will always be there when the ‘going gets tough.’

5. Know that the professors are there to better you as a student AND as a person. They do care for you far more than your grades. They do the job they do because they are passionate about what they teach and they are passionate about helping you learn so that you may be effective in whatever you do. Ask questions and do not be scared to voice things that you do not understand. Be involved in class discussions, dialogue about things you need to understand more and seek their counsel and guidance.

6. When you have so many things on your plate, remember the best way to get things done is One at a time.

Friends, these are some of my experiences that will drastically improve your semester, not only on an academic level but also on a personal level. I have had my fair share of late nights, early mornings, stressful hair-pulling days and days that I feel as though it is impossible to go on. But the fact that I am writing this blog to you right now is proof that I have survived! I have learned some study tips that have aided my greatly and I sincerely hope will aid you in your journey at Ambrose. You have nothing to lose by trying them out, so you may as well give it a try!

Blessings!

-kyle.trigg
(kytrigg@ambrose.edu)

A Blog From the End of Last Semester!

So as a program ambassador my job is to represent the faculty of theology and to walk alongside whoever seeks advice or desires help with looking at Ambrose ministry degrees. What an incredible job I have! I absolutely love it… but I have a confession to make to you all, and please try not to judge me too harsh for this entry! My confession is this: I am a less than a worthy example in one way (well, maybe more than one, but for the sake of this entry, I’m focusing on one)…  I am far too much of a procrastinator far too often!

Yes, I said it (I’m feeling rather vulnerable here; please encourage me at some point in the near future)! You know, I do a lot of good things around the school. I am on both the Hockey and Volleyball teams, I am on the Youth Conference Leadership planning committee, I am on two separate worship teams for the school, I am a program ambassador… I do lots of things well, except I often am less than excellent at the whole planning of my time in a semester.

I am writing this blog as a warning to you future students. I am not writing to talk about the burden of university academia, the hours of work or the ridiculous amount of papers (though those are certainly the reality of post-secondary education), I am writing this out as a warning, to you my friends, so that you can be ahead of the game come your triumphal entry to Ambrose academics! I am writing this humbling blog entry out of a sincere desire for you to succeed and to thrive at Ambrose!

So my message is this… And I beg you, plan your semesters well! Otherwise you will find yourself in a situation very similar to mine where you will have 7 papers due within eight days of each other [I should clarify, I was in six classes this past semester, which is more than the average course load… and five of them were senior level religion courses, so that IS an abnormal amount of work, you need not fret, too much ;)]. But having that much work is way too much for a person to handle with maintaining some sense of sanity. I am sure, you can ask my friends, I was loopy over the past few weeks as I was trying my darndest to finish these projects up, while trying to achieve a solid semester G.P.A!

Here is my lesson to you and the moral to this story…errrr… this blog.

Plan out your semester, know the work you have to do, see when your papers are going to be due, see when your exams/quizzes/reading reports/projects/finals etc. are due, and plan accordingly! It is possible to go a semester without having to pull an all-nighter; I am currently in the process of discovering how this can be done! But my friends I want you to do well when you are here, so that is a lesson I have learned over my three years at the school that I am still trying to navigate on how to accomplish well!

As always this time of year, the close of the fall semester, I am trying to make my next semester better than this past one! Let us see if it can happen! A goal? Let’s start realistically, try to avoid all nighters :) 
Merry Christmas, He truly is the only reason for this season!