Life Together

Intro #5 - Thomas Friesen

2010-10-29T15:15:00.003-06:00

HERE'S THOMAS!

Ok so let’s do this again.

Hello internets, My name is Thomas Friesen.

I am from Prince Albert SK, but for the past two years I’ve been living around Alberta spending a maximum of 8 months in one place at a time more on this later. I come from the loins of Randall and Lauralea Friesen with 3+1 siblings. The oldest, Johanna, is married to the +1, Nate. They live out west and early next year will simultaneously make me an uncle and my parents feel a lot older. The second from the top is Hillary, she is going to a bible school up north in Sexsmith, AB. I should probably call her soon in lieu of not talking to her for quite a while. Lastly We’ve got Micah. He is, at this moment, either in school (grade 11 if it was important) or sitting in my parents basement playing guitar.

Boring Boring Boring.

Over this summer I lived in an 8x12 foot shack in the woods of Riding Mountain National Park. I was the maintenance guy out at covenant heights bible camp. The first month I spent alone, getting everything set up for the camp to start. (fun fact: I spent 60 hours without any human interaction, quite enjoyable). I used most of this time to figure out what direction I should be going. I played around with the idea of returning for a full go at life together, instead of the 5 ish months I started with, but something was missing from that formula. After a while I thought I found out what it was. It came in the form of a correspondence course along the lines of spiritual direction. I applied and got in, then last month the course was cancelled due to having not enough applicants.

Better.

So I hoped to come to life together to participate in that course, and work through its material in this context. But now I’ve got to rework my plans and find an alternative. I have an opportunity to take the same course out of Vancouver in the new year, but until then I have to find a place in God where I can wait, Listen and discern what is up for me next.

Intro #4 - Kim Irwin

2010-10-20T14:27:00.003-06:00

My name is Kimberly Irwin and I am from St. Albert, Alberta. I grew up in Grande Prairie, and when I was 14, we ended up moving to St Albert. I have two loving parents, Wes and Cathy, and a younger brother Calvin.
Over the last couple of years I have travelled all over the place! I graduated in 09’, half a semester early, which allowed me to go on an exchange for 3 months in France. After I graduated with my class in June, I worked all summer and then went off to Capernwray Harbour last fall. I really enjoyed my year at Capernwray, and I experienced a major growth in my relationship with God. Having that opportunity to get away, and focus on my relationship with God, has really changed my outlook on life. He is more real to me than he has ever been before in my life, and this is why I am thankful to be living in a supportive home like Life Together. When I was away at bible school, knowing that I would be going to SAIT(Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) in the fall, I was concerned I wouldn’t find a place to live. It was such an answer to prayer when my mom found out about Life together through Thomas’ dad. (My mom and his dad went to bible school together, a long time ago when dinosaurs walked the earth, and remained in contact through Facebook.)
By living in this house, I really wanted to learn to live with others in community and to grow in my relationship with God again. I wanted to make Christian friends, so I would be able to encourage them in their walk, and they would be able to do the same for me. Having a daily devotional together is really helpful when trying to time manage time between school and other social activities. I want to learn to serve God through serving my fellow house mates, and also looking forward to getting involved in a local church. I hope as I continue to grow in my relationship with God, I will become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and He will lead me exactly where He wants me to be. I have seen God work in my life before, and I expect great things to happen this year at the house.

Thanks,
Kimberly

Intro #3 - Brittany Eefting

2010-10-14T11:13:00.003-06:00

My name is Brittany Eefting. I was born in Alberta's oil heaven Fort McMurray though I think that is the first and only time heaven and Fort Mac will be used in the same sentence. I moved to Calgary when I was 16 and have been here ever since. Moving to Calgary was one of the most critical moments in my life. It completely changed everything in the best way. So that was deep, moving on.

I have the most AMAZING family. I am in the middle with an older sister and a younger brother. My younger brother, Caleb is 14 years old and pretty much the coolest 14 year old around: super athletic, super kind, and super fun. My sister is 25, married to a very talented and funny worship pastor. My sister is one of my best friends and has the cutest son in the entire world and yes I am the crazy auntie who spoils him like mad.
My parents are the best. My mom is for sure my best friend and my dad is my biggest fan and my greatest support.
My family is said to be abnormally close and crazy. From making ridiculous movies on family day, to our crazy love for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and our fierce competitiveness I guess I could agree we are a bit nuts but my life is so full because of them. I could gush for an entire blog about them, alas this is supposed to be about me. So we move on and I will let you all know what I have been doing the last few years and what I am doing now.

I graduated high school in 2007 and attended Rocky Mountain Bible College for a year, mostly to sing in their choir and take voice lessons (music is my life). After that year I went to Mount Royal University to get my Diploma in Early Learning and Child Care ( I looove children). I graduated this past spring and took the summer to basically relax before my new life as a real adult began. Now I am a full time nanny for a fantastic family with two little girls. My job brings me much joy, a lot of laughs, and a lot of yawns.It also brings me a paycheck so I can live in the life together house ( pretty good transition to the next section eh?)

Why did I choose to come to life together? hmm well I have always been super intrigued by the idea of communal living. For years now I have said that one day I would try it. When I heard about Life Together at church I was super interested in it. There it was, my communal living experience combined with my faith! perfecto! I was going to be done school and ready to move out but not so ready to move out that I wanted to live alone. The life together house just seemed like a fit. I LOVE learning with and from people. So it was so clear to me that this is something God would use to impact my life greatly and wanted me to do. When I look forward into this year I have so many dreams and goals my mind gets jumbled thinking about them. I am a passionate person who loves to learn but when I find something I love I am all in. This year I am looking to find balance within my faith. Focusing on listening to God and following through on the things He shows me. I know He has great things in store and I want to be in tune enough to figure it out. I am so extremely excited about this year.

And that’s me.

Intro #2 - Molly Read

2010-10-07T10:02:00.004-06:00

Hey. I'm Molly.

I was born in the infamous Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Yes, I own a Saskatchewan Roughrider jersey, wanna fight about it?
Before moving to Life Together here in Calgary, I had lived in the same house my entire life. My family and I have always attended the Gateway Covenant church there, and they continue to do so in my absence. We had a fairly tight-knit community at Gateway when I was growing up, it was a smaller group of kids my age that were a part of the youth group there; although mostly consisting of my own family members. Like most churches, Gateway had it's ups and downs. I'd have to say our youth pastor moving and the following year when our pastor moved took a pretty decent tole on our community, but at the same time it helped us grow. Others had to step up and pitch in to keep our church alive and walking. Childrens ministry has always been something I enjoy doing, and once they left I had the opportunity to teach Sunday school for the 3 children we had left at church.

I've attended Covenant Heights bible Camp for about six years now, which has really been an amazing experience. Each year I meet great new people and take so much home with me once the summer is over. That's actually how I came to know about Life Together. Of course, I had heard about it but I wasn't sure what it was all about. An old friend from Prince Albert had been the previous year, and a fellow camp counselor was going this year. With no intentions on going, but purely out of curiosity I asked questions about the whole project. The more I learned about it, the more interested I became.

For the past few years I had been preparing myself to go into law enforcement. I've always thrived in a competitive and active environment, and after working in retail for two years, I had become confident in my people skills as well. This past year I applied for a police preparation program, and six months later would be able to apply for the city police. It only took me the summer at camp to realize that God had different plans for me, and so when I got home from camp in Manitoba there was an acceptance letter waiting for me for university. I decided to put that aside and start writing up another application; to Live Together.

I don't know what's in store for me this year, but I am currently just settling into this big new city. I've recently started a job working as a nanny for a family down the street. The 5-year-old twin girls are a lot of fun, we spend the majority of the day playing games and making crafts... I can't think of any better job than this! I'm trying to focus on creating a routine in my life (I love routines) that incorporates God into my every day life. With the help from my new friends here in Calgary, I hope to come out of this year with a better understanding of what God is doing and wants to do in my life in the future. I would love to go to school eventually once my ambitions are a little bit more clear, but for now I'm just working on listening and learning.

I suppose that's it!

Intro #1 - Aaron Coutts-Smith

2010-10-01T14:13:00.007-06:00

Well he sets some kind of bar somewhere...

This is Aaron's intro to the readers of the blogosphere...

"Now, this is the story all about how

My life got flipped-turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute

Just sit right there

I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Cal-gary

In south western Ontario born and raised

On the playground was where I spent most of my days

Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool

And all shootin some b-ball outside of school

When a couple of guys

Who were up to no good

Startin making trouble in my neighborhood

I got in one little fight and my mom got scared

She said 'You're movin' with your Joel and Hilary in Cal-gary’

I begged and pleaded with her day after day

But she packed my suite case and sent me on my way

She gave me a kiss and then she gave me my ticket.

I put my Ipod on and said, 'I might as well kick it'.

First class, that’s how I’m described

I listen real good, when I’m bribed

I enjoy playing and watching all sports

In Settlers of Catan I go for the ports

But wait, I hear the country music, farming, and all that

Is this the type of place that they should send this cool cat?

I don't think so

I'll see when I get there

I hope they're prepared for the prince of Cal-gary

Well uh, I hope God has something great planed for me

Cause I have no idea what I’m supposed to be

So I’m going to Bible college

to see if he’ll speak to me there

I try to live my life free of care

I whistled for a cab and when it came near

The license plate said fresh and it had dice in the mirror

If anything I can say is that this cab was rare

But I thought 'Man forget it' - 'Yo home to Cal-gary'

I pulled up to the house about seven or eight

And I yelled to the cabbie 'Yo homes smell ya later'

I looked to my kingdom

I was finally there

To sit on my throne as the Prince of Cal-gary"

Season 2 Continued

2010-09-16T10:28:00.002-06:00

We retreated this last weekend. It was retreatful. We did some good reflection, some good goal/expectation conversations, ate some good food, had a sweet dunk contest and game of 500, and sat by the fire and talked quite a bit. We did some low ropes, and some low rope challenge feats. We pretty much nailed it. Seriously, though, everyone that had done stuff like that before kept saying “we are making this look really easy” and “we are doing this so fast.” If we could do those as a group competitively or for money we would have a great way of raising funds for the house.

And we all got along and didn’t revert to our caveman ancestry by hitting each other with blunt objects and yelling inaudibly when we struggled.

On ourselves individually, this year we are going to try setting goals/rules for ourselves that the rest of the community is aware of. The purpose of this, of course, is for us to be able to judge one another and tell each other where we didn’t measure up at the end of the year.

Oh, wait, that’s wrong. It’s actually so that we can have a little communal accountability but more importantly some communal encouragement as we each figure out how we can grow and be transformed this year.

On ourselves as a group, we are doing our lectionary and prayer together right after supper every night. So far it has been fun to eat supper together, do the lectionary and prayers together, and then have dessert together. If there’s dessert, that is. If not, most will scrounge for a cookie or ice cream. Dessert together. Maybe we in light of this routine we will need some cardio together.

Keep reading in the next couple weeks so you can meet all of our residents!

Season 2

2010-09-06T14:28:00.003-06:00

After not much deliberation we think we'll call this year "Season 2" of Life Together. That's cool. It really fits neatly because not only are we in this house together for a "season" of discipleship and communal living, but we're also broadcasting live on TV everything that happens in the house.

Well, maybe not the second part.

We are almost a week in, and things are going smashingly. The overall feeling is that this group wants to hang out together and spend time with each other as much as they can (so far...) and so we've had a fun first few days of trips downtown, football games, hot tub parties, orientation evenings, movie nights, wing nights (I am listing these plural but we've done them once each. It's only been 5 days)

Our Life Together Season 2 residents this year are

Kim Irwin from St. Albert, AB

Brittany Eefting from Calgary, AB

Molly Read from Prince Albert, SK

Thomas Friesen from Wetaskawin? AB

Aaron Coutts-Smith from Sarnia, ON

We are really looking forward to this year, and thanks to the momentum from the brave Season 1 residents, things are looking great.

Please check back for bio's from each of our new residents over the next couple weeks.

Closing Ceremonies

2010-08-30T17:04:00.004-06:00

We are on the last full day of the first year of Life Together. Do we call it year 1, year A, the inaugural year, the year of foundations, the year of access to old angry Greg? What do we choose??? I'll let you all decide for yourselves, as we have no official title for each year.

The reality is this is weird. We did/are doing a few things together as a group before everyone but Thomas heads out to their next phase... we did a great (read: strenuous to difficult) hike up sulphur mountain (and lazily rode the gondola down) and relaxed together in the Banff hot springs after our legs were rubbery. For us guys, it was a redemption trip to the hot springs, as the last time we were there we thought it would be fun to rent the olde timey one piece swimsuits, which it turned out was in no way fun. Quite the opposite, actually.

Anyway, the summer has been interesting with both Hilary and I on various trips for school and vacation, and everyone else on their own trips, or working at camps, or on their own vacation with family.

The hard reality with Life Together is that we do want people to be living their lives as they live in this house, and that sometimes means not everyone is available for everything we want to do every time. This has been the case all year, and is the very, very different way things work here as opposed to a bible college model where everyone is on the same schedule pretty much the entire year.

So it would be fitting that we don't have Scotty here tonight for our "Last Supper" at Life Together Year 1A. That might be hard or weird, or it might just be par for the course. My guess is it will be hard or weird.

Tomorrow Miranda heads back home to Winfield, and Eric moves out to his place downtown. As that happens I pick up Aaron from the airport and then the rest of the noobies move in on the 1st to start Life Together Year 2B.

So much for turnaround time.

We are grateful for your prayers and support. Please pray for those moving on from Life Together Year 1A. Some of them are taking bold moves, some are taking smart moves, and all but Thomas are taking moves away from this house and this experience, and we hope we can continue to be a part of their lives as they journey with God.

Moving...

2010-07-14T18:14:00.003-06:00

It seems like every season is a season of transition in some ways... this way is a much more physical representation of transition.

Our Life Together Calgary moving days... I have been doing loads upon loads in the big blue beast of a truck (courtesy of the Braun Family Ranch, and because I have nothing else to do this week... or something) and tomorrow we have some friends coming to help with the bigger things.

It is a fun time, a sweaty time, an exciting time, and a time to look back on our year at this place (it is surprisingly easy to look back with all the mirrors).

God continues to bless us with places and people. We have 4 new applicants for the fall, 3 have been accepted and we are excitedly waiting for the paperwork from the 4th.

Thank you for your prayers and support, readerworld of cyberspace.

we lost a good man out there today....

2010-05-20T14:44:00.003-06:00

Much has happened since the intros. Let's be honest, the intros should have been done the first week of September, and then we should have moved on from there with weekly updates. That was the intention and that was the promise as well. There is no telling how many thousands of readers we have lost by being so terrible at blogging.

Anyway, a quick recap, perhaps? Point form, you say? Can do. Then we'll have a vote for what to expand on. Good.

- April saw a few birthdays, which means special meals and lots of cake and/or ice cream. No kidding on the word "lots" either.

- We were fortunate enough to have the conference's AGM here in Calgary this year. That means we had an opportunity to host a BBQ at the house, which was surprisingly well attended, and hopefully not just because we were advertising free food. The AGM also gives us a chance to share more of what's happening here at the house with everyone (in the meeting setting) and with individuals (in conversations throughout the weekend).

- Two days after AGM was over, we (all 8 of us) took off for our experiential/educational road trip. We headed west and visited with pastors and leaders of various churches and organizations - all of whom shared their answers to our question for the trip: How are God's people responding to the world? Each person/group gave us their answer for their particular context and we got to see a lot of answers to that question. We will have a more detailed post on the trip whether you vote for it or not.

- Two days after we got back from the trip we lost Greg Jensen. Not to death, but to Winnipeg, which is a close second to death. Things will be different here without Greg, but we are happy to see how happy he is to be back in the city he loves. Greg is preparing for the Winnipeg Life Together house that is starting this fall.

We have 3 new applicants for the fall so far. That is very, very exciting. They are very excited, we are very excited, the whole situation is just... just so... exciting.

God is good to us. It's great when we can recognize it.

JB

Intro #5 - Miranda Comely

2010-04-14T09:36:00.004-06:00

20 Questions To Get To Know Me...

1)What is your full name? Miranda Maie Comely

2)When is your birthday? September 9th, 1991

3)Where were you born? Winnipeg, Manitoba

4)How many siblings do you have? 5 (2 sisters, 3 brothers)

5)Tell a little about yourself? I'm generally a quiet person, until you get to know me. I have a very kind and sensitive personality. I'm the middle child of 6. I like being outdoors and also enjoy reading and writing. My favourite pet would be a dog. I love spending time with my family and friends and I became a christian when I was in my early teens.

6)What is one strength you have? I have a empathic and caring personality.

7)Favourite bible verse: I have a few but the one right now that has been speaking to me is Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

8)When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? A vet.

9)Who are your favourite authors? Currently... Jodi Picoult and Lurlene McDaniel

10)Favourite high school subjects? English and Home EC

11)If you could go anywhere, where would you go? The Caribbeans and England.

12)How would you define Faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

13)If you could study anything you wanted in school, what would you want to learn more about? I would probably take a psychology course because the mind fascinates me.

14)If you could have any career what would you do? Work with youth or children.

15)What does it mean to have courage? Courage is persevering even when you are afraid.

16)What made you decide to come to Calgary to the Life Together house? I found out about it through my church and thought it would be a fun experience to start off life after high school. The idea of living in a house with other people sounded like fun, since I wasn't quite ready to move out totally on my own and didn't have any plans on what I wanted to do. When the opportunity came to me I decided to take a chance and so far I'm glad I did.

17)What have you gotten/want to get out of this Life Together experience? I came here not knowing what to expect and I guess one thing I want to get out of this experience is to grow a stronger relationship with God and as a part of a community.

18)Main goal this year? My main goal for this year is to try to find my way through life,what God has planned for me, get accustomed to living on my own and all that it brings and ultimately enjoy this year.

19)What has been one of your struggles living in the Life Together house? I am generally a solitary person but living here has challenged me to step out of my comfort zone which isn't always easy.

20)Where do you see yourself in a few years? Living on my own, going to/finished college. Working in a job I love, and that praises God.

Intro #4 - Thomas Friesen

2010-03-15T10:37:00.003-06:00

Yes, we are still doing this. Yes, we are working on setting up a better blogging system and are making plans to update this on a regular basis. Yes, we may have promised this before. Yes, yes, yes.

Please enjoy getting to know our last few residents over the next couple of weeks!

Take it away, Thomas!!!

"Joel told me to write a bio.
All right, I am Thomas.
There.
Longer eh? Stream of consciousness it is. And to make it more interesting I’ll insert when the shuffle changes songs..
I was born in Winnipeg a couple of years ago, and I don’t like exact measurements. Did that whole “Manitoban” thing for a few years then had enough of that and somehow ended up in Prince Albert SK. I’d have to say that most of my growing up happened in Prince Albert. [now listening to: The Postal service] And even though it’s not a first choice kind of place I still think it was a good fit. So, now we flash forward to my grad [now listening to: The Decemberists]. Why did I say grad? It was lame. Well not really, but I hope that anyone who says “high school was the best years of my life” tragically dies [now listening to: Metric] at 18. [now listening to: Frou Frou] Then somehow, after learning to listen to God, I ended up at Peace River Bible Institute. I did a year there and decided, myself, to go back. As it turns out that wasn't in my cards and needed to move on. Then through some [now listening to: Cloud Cult] various events ended up living in Calgary, in Life Together. I’ve always held that I wasn’t going to actually live in Alberta, and now I’ve ended up here, I don’t have a gun yet so there is still hope for me yet.
That didn’t end well.
I’ll start again.
Hi there, I’m Thomas and this is ridiculous, JOEL ARE YOU READING THIS? DOES THIS MAKE YOU HAPPY!?
About me:
I HATE describing myself. I’m like when you drop one of those corelle plates. It shatters and goes everywhere. And when you clean it up you think you got it but then a month later you find [now listening to: Cobra Starship] a piece under the counter. And then a year later you step on a piece in a different room. And you realize that you never really totally got it.
I like metaphors.
I like Music.
I love beauty.
I love how people are different and have a different way of understand the [now listening to: Muse] world.
I think people worry too much.
I like some movies. Where the Wild Things Are is the best.
I am not where I’ve lived or gone to school. I change, [now listening to: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton] and where I come from just influences how.
I like the conceptually abstract.
I’m terrible at introductions, and sometimes when I talking to people I have no idea how to[now listening to: Sigur Rós & Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson] interact.So I grunt, walk away, or just say “yes”. (you: “It’s really nice outside” Me: “Yes”)
I’m bad at getting what’s in my head out. Be that in words or writing, or even through the art of mime.
I love the mind, and I spend a lot of time in there.
Photography is the best. And if you want, I’ll take your picture.
I am Thomas Friesen and [now listening to: Stars] I think that I’ll have to write this again.
and Hillary and Joel are the best people in the world - just generally, and they are both very attractive."

Intro #3 - Scott Yaremko

2010-02-06T23:22:00.005-07:00

Hello I'm Scott Yaremko and this is an introduction to me,

I was born in Calgary, AB and I have lived here my entire life in a house only 10 minutes from the Life Together
home. I grew up in the covenant church on Kensington Road and attended CBC during its last active year so in a
sense being involved in a Covenant project such as Life Together isn't altogether new to me, but in many ways it is
also a very new experience (I'll unpack that loaded statement later). I guess you maybe want to know a little bit
about me, in that case: I have a great love for music, but I can't tell you anything about music theory or how to
play it. I mostly enjoy very loud hardcore, metal and punk. Some of my favourite bands right now include Converge,
Melvins and Coalesce, but I also enjoy a wide variety of music and I'm always interested in discovering new tunes.
Currently I am having a lot of fun playing guitar in a powerviolence band here in Calgary. I am also a student at
the University of Calgary studying Canadian and World History. History is a very interesting subject
(despite what you may have heard), context is everything for me and I find things make a lot more sense after I have
looked at them from a historical point of view. After graduating I plan to get into education and subsequently a
high school teaching position... or maybe work at McDonalds, who knows where my history degree will take me... the
world is my oyster. I enjoy zombie movies, spaghetti Westerns and Kung-Fu. I enjoy playing video games and board games,
I also enjoy watching hilariously dumb shows like Space Ghost, ATHF and MST3K. I enjoy drawing when the mood strikes me
I am single and enjoy long walks on the beach

As for my experience so far with Life Together, I can honestly say I had no idea what it would be like living with
7 other people in a tiny house, but the concept excited me which is why I am here. Most of the people here are people
I know or have met at some point or another through connections with the Covenant church, but the idea of living together
means that I am getting to know them within a closely knit community. This kind of relationship is one that I have
come to value deeply as I find that my relationship with God is most evident to me through community with others.
The greatest challenge I have found this year is finding time to make the most of this opportunity, it is very easy
for me to live my own life within this house, essentially reducing Life Together into a simple room and board
experience. Having grown up in Calgary, I am still trying to keep in touch with my friends and family and balancing this
along with school, work and band practice makes for an interesting challenge. I was initially hoping that my
individual life here in Calgary would effortlessly fuse with Life Together but I have found that things don't
always work the way you plan. Regardless, God is revealing himself to me in new ways this year and I hope to learn
something by overcoming these challenges.

For some reason I am finding it incredibly cheesy to throw in lyrics as a closer, but they spoke to me as I was writing this post;
Life in community is beautiful but it is always accompanied by hardship; to me the two seem inseparable, and with God's help
pushing on through the hardships seems to complete the picture of community.
So I hope these lyrics serve as words of encouragement to you

keep breathing
keep living
keep searching
keep pushing on
keep bleeding
keep healing
keep fading
keep shining on

Intro #2 - Eric Braun

2010-01-23T09:48:00.001-07:00

My name is Eric Braun. Nice to meet you.

I was born in Saskatoon, SK, where I lived for three years, before moving to St. Albert, AB. It was there where I grew up and was basically raised by the Covenant church in Edmonton. Even through many different pastor/youth pastor changes, the core of the church was very solid and definitely shaped me into who I am now. Even without many people my age in the church, I was able to push myself out of my comfort zone and develop friendships outside of where I would normally look, which has absolutely been beneficial when I look back at it. I can definitely thank my parents beyond words for sticking with the church through all that it went through, and keeping me grounded in a solid Christian community. After I graduated high school I attended Covenant Bible College in Strathmore. This year was full of highs and lows, and it's been hard to tell exactly what impact the year at CBC had on my life. I do believe that I could have gained an enormous amount of knowledge and experiences, but I know that I did not always give all of myself into what was going on. Most of the time I lacked focus on the important things and missed out on a lot of opportunities. Looking back, I know I could have made more out of my year, but I still gained a lot and developed many solid relationships. After CBC I had the opportunity to do a worship internship at Lighthouse Covenant Church in Sarnia, Ontario. This year was beneficial in the fact that it stretched me outside of my comfort zone and opened up a lot of opportunities for me to grow (Like learning how to live in someone else's house.... It's tough!) and again I met a lot of great people who had a big impact in my life. After that year I moved home and worked for a year. This year a saw a bit of a lull in my faith, due partly to the fact that I came home to a church that had been through some major change and tension since I had been gone. My family saw a lot of hurt come from this situation, and we had a hard time fitting in to another church family. Just before I made my transition to the Life Together house, my family moved to an acreage near Wetaskiwin, AB, and started attending Malmo Covenant Church, where we felt very much at home.

That brings me here. I decided to be a part of Life Together after being at home for a year, living quite a distance away from my good christian friends. I felt like I had become a bit stagnant in my faith, and needed something that could keep me accountable, while also connecting me with other christians who are in the same part of their lives as I am.

Also, I like the mountains. They're nice. And now they're 45 minutes away.

So, that's a not-so-short story of my life. Hope it didn't bore you too much.

Intro #1 - Mandi Reynolds

2010-01-10T18:28:00.005-07:00

Mandi is our first intro/bio/get to know the residents person for the blog.

She is currently working at "Teaopia" at Market mall in Calgary while participating in Life Together. She chose to do her intro/bio/get to know the residents in the format of a list of her 100 favorite things. Here they are:

Mandi’s 100 favourite things

1. Jesus

2. Lord of the Rings

3. The Beatles

4. Cookies by George (I work right next door to one. It’s almost a problem.)

5. Jimmy Stewart

6. Socialism

7. Proportional Representation

8. This picture:

http://images.worldgallery.co.uk/i/prints/rw/lg/7/1/Charles-C--Ebbets-Men-on-girder-71805.jpg

9. Seinfeld

10. John

11. Coffee

12. Irony

13. Assam (a black tea from India, really good with cream and honey)

14. Peppermint (tea and candy canes)

15. Market Spice (another tea, I work in a tea store, this is another black with cinnamon and orange peels, spicy and sweet and awesome)

16. Arrested Development

17. Dead Poet’s Society

18. Leslie Howard (have you seen The Petrified Forest?)

19. Frank Sinatra

20. Barrack Obama

21. Rain

22. Harvey (the movie with Jimmy Stewart)

23. Aprons

24. Pie!

25. Lists

26. Camp (CBBC at Pigeon Lake)

27. Shoes

28. Fair Trade things

29. Shortbread

30. Chinese Food (I could probably make a list of my 100 favourite foods)

31. Doctor Who

32. Post-it notes

33. Sleep

34. David Fredbjornson (one of my former co-workers and maybe the best person I’ll ever meet)

35. Space (stars, planets, etc.)

36. Watchmen

37. Antiques

38. James Dean

39. Autumn

40. People who read signs (my tea store has a fairly complicated system, we have lots of signs to make it easier, but it does no one any good when no one reads said signs)

41. TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

42. Potatoes

43. Regulars (my tea store is in a mall, we have a lot of regulars who have become my best friends)

44. Social 30

45. Mr. Bryant (my TA in high school)

46. The Farmer’s Market (especially Phil and Sebastians, the best coffee place in Calgary)

47. “Richard Nixon” (I don’t like the guy, I’m just intrigued by him)

48. Buttons

49. The library

50. Pillows

51. Anne of Green Gables

52. Peter’s Drive-in

53. Dutch Blitz

54. Every decade but the ones that I’ve been alive for, and the ‘80s.

55. Watching TV on DVD

56. Garfield minus Garfield (seriously, look it up)

57. Nintendo 64

58. Musical Theatre

59. Crossword Puzzles

60. Quotes

61. Jane Austen

62. Don Miller

63. Vinyl

64. Charlie Brown

65. Pockets

66. Calvin and Hobbes

67. Blue and Brown (the color combination)

68. Global morning news

69. Central Park

70. Bird Jewellery

71. Classic Disney movies

72. The BBC

73. Summer solstice (I just like it when the days are long and it doesn’t get dark until 10:00)

74. The Drawer Boy

75. Magical Snow flakes

76. Adventures with my friends Sara and Emily

77. Cary Grant

78. Cookie Dough

79. Johnny Cash

80. Pushing Daisies

81. “Bazinga!”

82. John the Baptist

83. Neil Patrick Harris

84. LeftRightLeftRightLeft

85. Take Two (the scrabble game)

86. When I was in New York and these two guys were sitting on a bench in Strawberry Fields, playing Beatles songs.

87. Wikipedia

88. Living close to a train station

89. French Presses

90. Deadliest Warrior

91. Picnics

92. Trees

93. Castiel (the angel from Supernatural)

94. Argyle

95. Arthurian legend

96. Hoppipolla

97. Where the Wild Things Are

98. Sufjan Stevens

99. Ikea

100. Robin Hood

Thomasday

2010-01-07T09:26:00.002-07:00

We decided to change (permanently) the name of Thursday to Thomasday.

Today, which used to be Thursday, is the day that our newest Life Together resident joins us. His name is Thomas Friesen, and he is the reason we are changing Thursday to Thomasday. He's just that special.

Well, we don't completely know him that well yet to know if he's that special, but some of you might, and we're banking on him being some kind of special...

We're going to be doing some bios of the current residents here in the blog space over the next several weeks. Please keep reading if we promise to update regularly? Deal.

A danger

2009-11-25T20:58:00.002-07:00

Last night I was thinking about one of the greatest dangers that could end up affecting Life Together. I wasn't overwhelmed with grief or worry. It's beautiful that most of our community went out for wings tonight together. There's this place in Kensington called "The Yardhouse" where you get 100 wings for $15. This seems to be a solid deal, so people have been itching to go for some time. Tonight was their night.

No, the wings are not the danger I had in mind. No, I do not have vegetarian aspirations (sorry, Phil). Nor do I feel like choking is a major hazard in the whole wing night experience...

I do not spend too much time on issues of spiritual warfare. Perhaps my default is to claim innocence (read: ignorance) and hope that I'll be seen as the child of God that is protected by that great Father God of love and hope and peace etc... under his arms and shielded from "that realm" of happenings. Any of these things may be true, but the danger I see is this:

If there is something I believe Satan/Evil/Darkness/Nothingness is hoping for most of all in the context of this entire Life Together year, it's that those of us involved would settle for simply living our own lives in this house. Yes, we can do the "things" required of us - service, making meals, being hospitable, giving to the local church, showing up for scripture readings and events and speakers/teachers... but if we are not on a path and trajectory of being involved more deeply in the lives of those that we live with, darkness wins. Not being involved (read: mentally, physically, spiritually involved) in the listed requirements above would be second only to the danger of us not intentionally deepening our role in each others' lives.

It would be too easy/comfortable/normal for us to be just ourselves alone - working, studying, eating, playing - not un-involved in the lives of those in the house, but not involved in the way we spoke of previously.

I pray and ask God for grace for our house as we intentionally involve ourselves in deepening roles in our lives together. I pray for God's Spirit to be greatly involved as we head out for wings on a whim as well. God does this. God wants to.

Psalm 133:1 - "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity."

In the company of heroes...

2009-10-27T11:48:00.003-06:00

Hebrews 12 starts with "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Most of us are familiar with these verses, and its context, chapter 11, which lists the 'heroes of faith.' The author of Hebrews references the amazing work of God through the lives of those listed.

A few of us were invited to the ECCC's "Alive" event this past weekend to share what and how we are doing here at Life Together. Sitting in the ballroom on Sunday morning, I was overwhelmed with the 'cloud of witnesses' that we in this conference are surrounded by. I was particularly moved during communion. We have access to the lives and stories of those same heroes listed in the scriptures. We have access to the lives and stories of other individuals and faith communities throughout history. What spoke to me during communion was the reality that we also have access to living heroes that are around us presently. What a blessing and an opportunity it is to be able to learn from and be formed by these three groups of heroes that have fixed their eyes on Jesus.

Today I have two hopes as we share life together in Life Together: first, that we will wisely access these hero resources in our lives and learn how they have allowed Christ to move their faith towards perfection. Second, that we will set healthy patterns and practices that will make room for Christ to move greatly in our lives. That we will help each other throw off hinderances, and remind each other that Jesus is the author.

Thanksgiving

2009-10-13T12:48:00.002-06:00

"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients. We thank God for what he has done for us. We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily. And is not what has been given us enough: brothers, who will go on living with us through sin and need under the blessing of His grace?"
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

On Sunday afternoon we as a house had a large thanksgiving meal together including: turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes (or were they yams?), delicious stuffing, pie, and some form of roll. It was a good time to sit around a table all together as a house and eat a large amount of food, and then proceed to fall asleep watching football.

Personally, I am very thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this house and to attempt to live in community together. I am thankful for those that God has gathered in this house and for the shape that this community will take as a result of those people that God has gathered here.

Bonhoeffer's call to be thankful for what God gives daily is good advice I figure. There are many little things which we could complain about as a house but at the same time for us in this house God has brought together seven people who "live by His call, by His forgiveness, and by His promise". There is something very joyful about being part of a growing community that is seeking to live into what God is calling it to be.

Settling...

2009-09-18T15:29:00.005-06:00

We are a few weeks in... and we are still settling.

We are finding rhythms and learning the realities of living together, but we are still very much settling. We have seen God's provision in bringing us the residents that He desires for this year. As of this post, we are thrilled to announce to you that our residents are Greg Jensen, Scott Yaremko, Eric Braun, Miranda Comely, and Mandi Reynolds. We will be searching for Jesus' best as we focus on living as his disciples in community. We have looked for and have already seen His goodness in the sometimes dirty details of doing other peoples' dishes, power outages, different meals that we may like or that might disgust us, camping trips, crazy work schedules, no work schedules, and living in the reality that we are all very different and yet we are called to the same community house for this coming year.

In the Message, after Peter shares with those that would listen, Acts 2:42 says of those that heard the news, "They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers."

This is the way some of the earliest followers of Jesus responded to the great news of what Christ had done. We feel in good company, and we're wondering if these historical followers felt any more settled than we do...

If you would, please check in to this blog on Fridays for updates on how Christ is moving here among the residents of Life Together Calgary. We hope to share funny stories, hard stories, stories of God's goodness and grace, and any photos or videos that help communicate those stories.

The one thing that has certainly settled in is our excitement for what God can do here...

Intentional Christian Community

2009-05-29T01:11:00.002-06:00

Life Together is an opportunity for young adults to integrate their Christian Faith within a season of academic and vocational development. Living together as a small Christian community, participants will engage in:

Patterns of live that reflect the values of God’s Kingdom
Rhythms of life that foster the character of Christ followers
Community life that provides Christian fellowship
And a practice of hospitality and service that creates Christian presence

In September, 2009, the ECCC will launch it’s first Intentional Christian Community for young adults in the North-West quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. This 8 or 12 month program is open to any Christian young adults who intend to work, attend school, or serve in the Calgary area for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Resident Directors:
Each Intentional Christian Community will have a Resident Director living in residence to provide leadership and mentoring. We are thrilled to announce that Joel and Hilary Braun will be serving as the Resident Directors in our Calgary home.

Costs:
The costs to experience Life Together will be roughly equivalent to the residency fees for university housing. Projected costs are $6,500 for the 8 month program and $8,000 for the 12 month program.