If you’re going crazy with your kids at home or just need to get out for a walk with some friends! Come and join us. We’re meeting at the Dolphins near waterfront park on Thursday, July 9 at 6:30pm for a walk and s.t.o.p. (scripture, thanksgiving, observation,prayer).  Heidi will lead us in a short time of reflection.  Bring a waterbottle and dress for the weather.  (If it’s raining we won’t meet)  We may even find an ice cream stand close by for a treat!    Come on, bring a girlfriend and we’ll meet you there!

Hi everyone,

How is your summer going so far?  Hope you are enjoying these great summer days with family, friends, and new acquaintances.  Just came across a great opportunity for you to do with your family and friends in a few weeks.  Below you will find an invitation from Dave Urness…..what a great way to experience the great out doors – maybe we’ll see each other there

Summer has arrived and once again it is time to announce this years summer alpine destination!

 For those not aquainted, each year for the past 4 we have organized a great outing into the local mountains. Previous examples include: 

Twin Lakes in the Pinnacle range of the Monashees (2006), Skaha Bluffs Penticton (2007), Little White Mountain (2008). So now for the drum roll, this years destination will be…

 Where: Needle Peak! Location, Coquihalla Highway adjacent the old toll booth.

When: Saturday July 25th

This is a stupendous day trip and allows for two enjoyable options:

1) Hiking trail to the sublime alpine meadows and basin filled with lakes famed for great skiing in the winter or

2) The peak itself – an invigorating scramble to the summit of Needle peak

 This trip is geared for most abilities and kids and families are welcome. For a copy of the gear list for the day, please contact me. Fitness should be reasonable being that you should be able to do regular walks without any health complications. This isn’t a trip for super athletes only, as I don’t organize trips like that for groups. I am interested in sharing with as many as possible the marvels of our BC mountains. A great way to join in community, fellowship and connect.

 All questions can be forwarded to me at daveali@telus.net or by phone at 250-762-8586

 Please RSVP with me by July 18th.

 Dave Urness

Please find below a message from our Adventureland Staff…….

Can you believe it?! Adventure Zone camps start in just over three weeks! We are so excited to see what God is going to do in the lives of kids at Big Backyard Bash as they discover what it means to serve their family, friends, neighbours, and community; all while serving Jesus. We’ve got an opportunity for you to serve our kids before camp even begins! We have over 2,000 woodsies that need to be stained. Kids will be gluing them on birdhouses during crafts at camp. We also have some boomerangs to paint!

 From now until it gets done, we will have Bruce’s old office area set up with all the supplies and instructions. If you (and some friends) have time we would so appreciate if you would come and help us get these ready! 

Thanks so much!

 Adventureland Staff

If you’d like more info…. please call Nadene at 250-860-3273 ext 114

Just wanting to remind you about Trinity Women’s Connection  – Walk & S.T.O.P. (scripture, thanksgiving, observation,prayer) this Thursday – June 11. 

 Come, meet us at the Dolphins (next to the Grand) at 6:30 pm.  Bring your bible and a water bottle.  This will be a great chance for us to connect and chat, get some exercise both physically and spiritually.  Heidi will lead us in a short reflection time.

Looking forward to seeing you all.  Bring a friend if you like, we’d love to meet her.

any questions…email me at tschlenker@trinitybaptist.net

I had cookies for breakfast. There, I’ve said it and it’s out there and I can’t take it back! Not just any cookies by the way. These bad boys were hand crafted by yours truly.

What is the saying about telling the truth? It will set me free… well I am hoping it will set me free of the remaining eight cookies still in my kitchen because that is pretty much all that I am thinking about. Does any of this sound familiar to anybody out there? If you are a human being, I am guessing you are nodding your head and perhaps wiping the crumbs off your own mouth at this very moment. If you are a dog or a cat and can read this, please call me and we’ll be rich!

My challenge for you is to look at what really causes you to give up on eating balanced and moving your body. Is it the occasional binge? Is it the 3 days in a row that you have chosen not to move your body? Is it the week where every member of your household, including the hamster, was sick with some strange virus that turned your house into a petri dish?
Or… are you using the guilt that follows closely on the heels of these interruptions, these slip-ups to further indulge a sweet tooth or lazy backside???  Guilt is a dangerous sack of broken glass to carry on one’s back. It is a feeling that we can easily use to stay stuck in the mud or mired in chocolate. Pseudo guilt or guilt created by human beings as a society only leads to self-slander which then leads to zero self-worth, which then segues nicely back to poor choices. A crazy vicious cyclone of cookie dough.

God’s Holy Spirit is not ignorant in the ways of the human being, as we all know. So why should our nutrition and body movement issues be excluded from the realm of what we need to hand over? Are the binges too insignificant? Is the lack of energy to get up and enjoy God’s great outdoors too irrelevant? I would bet my last white chocolate peanut butter chip oatmeal raisin cookie that God does not find our self-loathing trash-talk to be of no consequence.

There are certain things in my life that I have immense difficulty handing over to Jesus and I need constant reminding that my perception of what is worthy of asking for help is completely out of whack. It ALL matters to Him and it is especially crucial if my guilt makes me forget how much I am worth in God’s heart.

So… if you should happen to fall into the cookie jar for a few days or find yourself choosing outfits on the basis that they match your couch then tell the truth, ask for help, pray, shed the guilt and give away those darn cookies and the couch if you have to!
And remember, the joy of eating a cookie (or 6 cookies) is temporary…the joy of a healthy body is unending.

Love and laughter,  Melanie Maure

I will write this entry entirely in the first person as I am certain I am totally alone and none of you has ever had this conversation before. Here is a sample dialogue that goes between me, myself and I just before I embark on 99% of all the trail runs I take 4-5 times per week.

Me: “Well it’s that time again. Let’s go for a run.”
Myself: “But we just went yesterday? Isn’t that good enough?”
Me: “Our rest day is tomorrow, today will be an easy flat run with lots of sunshine!”
Myself: “But there is a little chill to the air and hasn’t our throat been feeling a little scratchy lately? (cough for effect)”
Me: “We’re fine and we have all the EXPENSIVE thermal gear remember?”
Myself: “But I’m feeling a little gassy and bloated. Should we run with a gassy tummy? Isn’t that dangerous? I think we need to lay down on the couch and really think this through!”
Me: “Running in the woods is a good thing when one has a gassy tummy.”
Myself: “But wait, don’t go out that door! Stop! Slow down a bit, wait! Is that arthritis I’m feeling in my back? Or could it be a defunct kidney?”
Me: “It’s gas.”
Myself: “Oh. (pregnant pause here) You know this isn’t so bad. Look at the beautiful colors God has put on the trees this year! Is that the waterfall I hear in the distance? Can’t you go any faster? My legs are really singing and is that joy I’m sensing in my chest and heart?”
Me: “Well, it’s not gas.”
Myself: “Let’s do this again tomorrow OK?”

I recently had a conversation with a woman who expressed her sheer exasperation at the inner voice that always talks her out of self-care. This voice tells her that she should feel guilty for taking time for herself. It tells her to sit and relax when she really needs to move. The voice tells her that eating right is difficult and useless for someone like her. It tells her that she deserves none of the joy that emerges from taking care of her body and she will only fail AGAIN.

In my own experience and through the experiences of women I love, I have come to see that there comes a time when we must reduce the importance of the relationship we have with this “voice”. I carry a personal motto that may lack eloquence but packs a hard truth. “On a good day, I believe half of what I think. On a bad day, I believe none of it.”

On the bad days, the good days and all the grey shades between, I do my best (which sometimes looks less than pretty!) to turn instead to a powerful, although much quieter, voice. I turn to God’s Spirit roaming around inside of me, whispering words of wisdom that can’t be disputed.

Wisdom empowers me in a balanced way to move my body, nourish it daily, rest when needed and keep things simple. Most importantly I am moved to celebrate the joys of this one and only body that was created out of love by God’s own hands. That is the voice I choose to listen to. How about you?

Love and Laughter, 

Melanie Maure