Where HAVE you been?!

Dear Tom,


We couldn't help but notice you've kind of stopped blogging recently! We think that's lame.


Said no one ever.

Hey y'all! July is almost over and I've posted exactly one time this month. Things have just been really crazy and busy and overwhelming, and it doesn't look like that's going to stop anytime soon.

So this is my way of saying I'm probably not going to be very consistent until September. The rest of the Summer promises to be really ridiculous and I just don't know what that will mean for this blog, haha.

For the time being (and beyond) you can continue to enjoy weekly videos by me and Tim Blais by checking out (and subscribing!) to our YouTube channel!

Seacrest out!

I Won't Give Up

Hey everyone!

So, for those of you who follow this blog regularly, you probably know that I've been looking into moving out this Summer and living in intentional Christian community with a couple of the other leaders from Emmaus Youth Group. You probably also know that stuff has been kind of up in the air with all of that for the last little while. Well, over the weekend, things became a little more clear (and a little more confusing, all at the same time!)

Basically, we had gotten super close to signing a lease on a really nice apartment in Verdun, but the landlady required our parents cosigning the lease because we're students. I thought we had things sorted out, but then one of my potential roommates decided to back out at the last minute, and now I am out of options. The other roommate would have been one of the female leaders, and while I don't think there's anything wrong with mixed gender housing situations if it's a group of at least 3 people, I do think one-on-one would be really difficult to pull off and probably seen as inappropriate. So in the end I have no roommate lined up for September.

Due to extreme circumstances, I can't stay "home" beyond the Summer either. But I can't rent an apartment on my own, and there's no options as far as roommates are concerned. So it looks like my best option will be what I've decided to call "Functional Homelessness"- I'll technically have no home address, with my mail being sent probably to the church office or something, and I'll be couch-surfing at various homes for an undetermined amount of time until I can find a roommate with rich parents who are willing to co-sign the lease. (This is of course assuming I don't somehow find a place I can rent all by myself that's totally perfect and doesn't require a co-signing parent)

I am so blessed to have already had a couple of offers from people. I will of course keep you all posted as things come up, and please continue to pray for the situation "at home"- that there would be peace in my parents' hearts and that they would come to know the Lord in a cool and personal way.

All that being said, I'm super excited to also be able to share with you this week's new Cabin 9 video! Hit subscribe, like it, follow us on twitter @cabin9music, and feel free to leave requests/recommendations in the comments!



Blessings,

... And We're Back!

So at the beginning of this month, I wrote a post about my new living situation, and how excited I was to be living in community with a few of the guys from Emmaus. It was a pretty wild week adjusting to that, but right when I did start to feel at home in the Point-St-Charles apartment, I felt God calling me back to my parents' house. So I popped in for a couple of nights over the weekend, which was convenient anyways because their house is closer to the church, and while I was there, I prayed about my whole situation.

I prayed that God would give me some direction about my living situation, and, long story short, I really clearly felt him telling me to stay at my parents' house! This was kind of distressing because I had just settled in, but it was really clear to me that I needed to come home and work on my relationship with my parents before trying to move out again.

So I'm back, living in NDG with them, which I hope will be exciting and good for my relationship with them.

Living in Community

Hey everyone!

So, tonight I am sleeping in my own apartment for the first time ever!- sort of!

For the months of May and June I will be living in intentional Christian community with a bunch of really cool people from Emmaus Anglican Church! For the last two years, a group of about six young adults from our congregation have been living together in community in Pointe St-Charles, a poorer area of Montreal, with the goal of growing together in their faith and reaching out to the people in that neighborhood. I am super excited to be living with them for the next two months as a member of their community!

I don't have a whole lot to say right now, but I felt I should keep in tradition and write something on a Monday night, and figured this was as good a thing to write about as any! So, I will end this here for now but you can rest assured that as I adjust to the madness of morning prayers and community dinners and independence from my parents I will have lots of things to talk about and lots of prayers to request!

For those of you who feel so inclined, here is how you can pray for me this week:
- Pray that I can easily make the switch between living at home with my parents and living at home with my friends
- Pray that I can adjust to the new lifestyle that comes with living on my own
- Pray that I am able to build tighter relationships with the people I'm living with
- Pray especially that God uses this to stretch me and bring me closer to Him!

Blessings,

The Bible in a Year: Week 10

So, after a couple of weeks of hiatus, we're back into things!

For the last couple of weeks, I have been reading through Mark and Numbers as part of my effort to read through the entire Bible in 2012. With about four books finished now (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Matthew) I am making good progress!

Reading the Scriptures intentionally every day is a really interesting experience. It really encourages you to spend more time thinking about and reflecting on your relationship with God, and the way you live that out in everyday life. During this process, God has been bringing up some stuff in me that has been really significant and also just really cool to think about more! The most significant example of this is that God is convicting me to actually spend more time studying His word!

As a youth leader, it's kind of my job to familiarize myself with the Scriptures so I can more effectively teach and lead the teens. I've always been kind of a terrible student, so the idea of actually studying things in depth for any reason was always a really daunting task for me. Committing myself to this project has done a really good job of showing me that I am actually willing to put in the extra effort and time to really study this stuff, which is super exciting because I don't really feel that way about anything academic.

So, I'd like to ask you guys to be praying for me as I look for new, exciting ways to get into this stuff!

Blessings,

Annual Ministry Report

Hey everyone!

So, this week I sat down with Angela Henderson, my co-coordinator for youth ministry at Emmaus Anglican Church, to write our annual report. I figured, since I haven't had a lot of time to actually write any new posts in awhile, and so many of you out there are praying for us and our ministry, it would be a cool idea if I shared that report here!


At our June 2011 Retreat, we encouraged the teens to spend more time in community, living as the Body of Christ, pointing them toward the Christian life examined in the early church in the book of Acts. This summer was a time spent building community with one another in intentional ways. Coming off of this, our year started with a close group of teens who were very excited to get back into things and to welcome the new members of our group!

Our objective going into this year was to help the teens realize how God sees them, how to be a Christian in everyday life, and why that’s good and exciting! To do this, we started with an overview of what it means to be a Christian. We then discussed our identity in Christ, why we pray, why we memorize Scripture, how to glean from a sermon, what a testimony is, how to write a testimony, and why we serve one another.

After this, we asked the teens what topics they were interested in covering for the rest of the year. The topic we started with was being content with where we’re at in life, specifically with regards to singleness (a huge concern among high school students). After this, we had our Winter Retreat. God blessed us immensely by leading us to use The Friendly Home after our location cancelled, and we had a really good turnout. We discussed spiritual gifts, with the main focus of the weekend being “Value and Self-Confidence.” The teens went away encouraged and closer to one another and God than ever before.

Some other special evenings we had this year were a costume party at Hallowe’en, a Christmas party and a Q&A night with Keith which was enjoyed a great deal by both Keith and the teens!

Plans for March-June

Please be praying for the upcoming months as we have some serious as well as fun things planned. One topic that many teens have asked about is homosexuality. We will be taking 2 weeks to discuss it in April. We also have guest speakers, the 30 Hr Famine, a possible retreat at Rivercross Farm, a leaders’ retreat and our annual summer retreat in June. When we discussed the 30 Hr Famine with the teens, they decided that they wanted to support World Vision’s efforts to provide safety to children and teens being used as prostitutes and soldiers. They’re very excited for this event and we would encourage you to support them financially, if you can, and prayerfully the weekend of April 27-28!


Some Important Numbers!

7- Leaders currently serving on Friday nights!
5- Hours spent praying for and encouraging one another on our Winter Retreat!
11- Teens whose faiths were refreshed after our Winter Retreat!
1- Fence-sitting leader deciding to pursue a relationship with Christ!

On behalf of all the leaders,

Angela Henderson & Tom Zalatnai
Youth Ministry Co-Coordinators

Update

Hey everyone!

It's been awhile since I last wrote a proper post, and I wish I could say that streak is coming to an end right now, but it's not. I just wanted to quickly let you know that I'm still alive, and plan to get back into things as soon as possible! Unfortunately, that is not what tonight's post will be.

In fact, this post is going to be very short, as I've basically already said everything I wanted to say. Sorry things have been lacking, but thank you for continuing to read and support, and I assure you things will be back to normal soon enough!

Blessings,

No Posts This Week

Hi everyone,

So you might be wondering why I didn't post anything on Monday. And tomorrow you will probably be wondering why no new posts are going up.

This has been a kind of ridiculous week for me and I don't really have any honest explanation for it. My Bible readings have been rushed and uninspired, I've been exhausted and sluggish, and even while I type this I'm slowly drifting out of consciousnesssssssssss- just kidding, it's not that bad.

There have been a number of things on my mind recently, and I'll likely have a lot to say once my schedule calms down again. I've been praying for discernment about things for next year with regards to ministry, work and school, as well as with regards to relationships. I was also given some pretty intense news and have been working a lot and spending my down time disappearing into the worlds of The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation.

All this being said, I will be back to normal next week, with regular posts on Monday and Wednesday, and I'm sorry I have been a little less than productive recently!

God bless,

Midweek Update!

Hey everyone!

So there isn't much of a post today, because things got a little busy at the last minute, but I wanted to write a bit about a few changes and additions I'll be making to the blog over the next couple of days!

You've probably already noticed, this site has a new logo! It was designed by a good friend of mine, Matthew Fishman @FLIGHTTHEPOWER. This is just the first of a number of graphical changes that will be happening over the next couple of months, with his help. I'm completely lost when it comes to most computer-related and art-related things, so he's a huge blessing to have on board helping me out!

There's also a new page up there, next to the 'Home' tab- a page with a little bit of info about the guy whose blog you're reading! You can find that up there, or click here if that's easier for you! I'll be adding a few more pages like that one with a few details about the various ministries I work with, those should be up by the end of the week.

You might also start to see some ads popping up on here in the next little while. These days, I am doing almost anything to get some extra cash, and trusting that God will provide what I need, and will be monetizing this blog through AdSense. This will not really affect any of you that much, but you will start to see them in the sidebars and below posts and such. Feel free to click them if you want to, but if you don't, that's also cool! Your presence here, reading what I write, is enough compensation for me :)

The last update- as previously mentioned, my Wednesday series about brokenness is being discontinued for a little while in favor of something a little different. You'll have to check back next week to see what it is though ;)

Hardcore Brokenness: Foreword

So last Wednesday I announced that every Wednesday for the next little while I will be doing a post about the ways that God is at work in all of our hearts to deal with our brokenness and build our character, so that we can be better disciples and better witnesses to His glory and to the Gospel of His son, Jesus Christ. This week, I’m going to go a little deeper into exactly what this series is going to look like, and outline some of my goals and plans for the time to come. Starting next week, you can expect to have a sort of devotional-style post put up every Wednesday before 11PM ET (Montreal time). I wish I could be more specific about what time it will go up, but that will massively depend on how busy I am on a given Wednesday and on how many posts I back up in the queue for the weeks ahead. If you plan to read them every week as part of your devotionals, which I hope you will, then you should probably aim to read them on Thursdays, or late Wednesday night. Before I begin, I’d like to also state that I plan on doing another weekly update, probably on Sunday or Monday, about my New Year’s Resolution, reading through the Bible in a year with the ESV’s “Every Day in the Word” reading plan. This will look a little different from the Wednesday devotionals in that it will be more of a reflection on what in particular stood out for me that particular week, and will likely be less thematic.

So, let’s get down to business! A quick disclaimer: This post will likely be full of Christianese. Most of my posts will be less so than this ;)

As stated above, this post is mostly going to outline the goals and plan for my series titled “Hardcore Brokenness” which will start for real next Wednesday, the 18th of January.

As Christians, we are called to make better disciples of ourselves through the studying of God’s word and through our interaction, be it service or otherwise, with the rest of His Body. We also know, however, that God wants us to change our hearts for Him. He wants us to constantly be renewed by the power of His Spirit, and to ask for His help in doing so. We acknowledge that we are imperfect beings, and that God does not expect us to change ourselves for Him, but THROUGH Him, specifically, through His son, Jesus Christ. If we forget, for even a moment, that Christ’s sacrifice is what gives us life and worth, and try to change ourselves apart from that, it will mean nothing. Therefore through this series I plan to constantly keep you turning your eyes back to the Lord in all things. In all matters of the heart, I pray that He would be our main focus and our guide to dealing with the brokenness within us.
My goal here will be to address the issues of character that are clear in my own life, and, through Scripture, to encourage readers (and myself, in the process) to bring such things to God and lay them down at His feet in full submission to Him. My hope is that lives will be touched through this, that hearts will be broken and that God will use this as a way to start dealing with the things that His people are too proud or broken to have started working through before.
Over the next couple of months (I say couple of months rather presumptuously; I have no idea how long this series will go on for) I will be posting one devotional-style post per week, and would love to have feedback and encouragement through prayers and comments. I will also have a few guest writers at some point, which promises to be an interesting addition to this series.

I think that’s about all I have to say as an introduction to the series. I am excited to think that the Lord will use this to change people, even if those people are just me and the four or five people who actually read this blog regularly. I wish I could post this right now, instead of having to wait until I find free Wifi somewhere, but alas, I am currently typing this in a word document because the Café I’m in has the gall to charge money for their Wifi. At least the muffin was tasty.

Yours in Christ,

Tom

Recent Goings-On

So you might be wondering what I've been up to recently that's kept me so busy!

Or you might not, that's cool too.

Either way, I figured I should talk a little bit about how I've been spending my time the last couple of weeks!

I finished school a couple of weeks ago, so it's weird that I've had less time to write recently than before. You would think that being done with all my classes would give me more time, but that's not really the case. Christmas is a really busy season for me- and probably for a lot of us, now that I think about it! I was asked to lead the music for the Emmaus Christmas Day service this year, so I've been thinking a lot about Christmas music lately.

We also wrapped up youth group this past Friday night with our annual Christmas Party! That was pretty amazing- we had a gift swap, only we did it "yankee-swap" style and it was a lot of fun to watch people steal gifts from eachother. Hot ticket items included a package of bacon, an Edward Cullen action figure, some Angry Birds merchandise, a lock of hair and lunch for 3 at a tasty dumpling restaurant.

Also this weekend was the December edition of Crossroads! Crossroads is a monthly youth service hosted by Crosstalk Ministries, where I have the pleasure of helping lead musical worship alongside some truly wonderful people! It was a really great service as we celebrated the advent season with a spaghetti dinner, a special Eucharistic service and a ginger-bread house making (and eating!) competition.

 I've also been working, and eating more pizza than is probably healthy, and enjoying the company of friends and family! Last night I had the final meeting of a small study group I was attending this semester, as most of the group are heading back to Singapore next week! A quick shout-out to Abigail, Leroy and Tommy and all of your companions! Praying for you guys to have a safe trip home and looking forward to hearing from you soon :)

Well, that's the end of my exhausted ramblings for now. I'm still pretty wired though so I will probably write up something that's actually interesting and provocative in a few minutes.

Exciting Update!

Hey!

So this was kind of a cool night- I hit 1000 views! And I couldn't have gotten here without you (seriously, because I told blogger not to track my own pageviews, so like, all those hits were you guys!)

I'm excited to announce that a new section will be added to my blog in the weeks to come! There'll be a new page popping up soon that will be an archive of posts about superheroes! Specifically, detailing the pros and cons of various superpowers and hero-related phenomena!

And to make things even more exciting, there will be a second writer coming on board! He'll be writing mostly, if not exclusively, about the superhero stuff, but is also a really talented creative writer, so we'll see if some of that comes out a bit too :) His name is Oliver. That's all the information you're getting about him for now, but hopefully you'll be seeing more of him in the next couple of weeks!

That's all folks.