Thank you to everyone who submitted photos for the Photo Contest! Many of you have undeniable skills with a camera (and photoshop!), and are able to capture the beautiful and funny parts of life.

The photos were sent away to Andrew Goodwin for judging. Here are the results:

Nature

Winner: Boy Scout Memorial Submitted by: Rob MacDonald

Runner Up: Results of Katrina Submitted by: Rob MacDonald

This was a difficult category. I really liked the Boy Scout Memorial because it tells a story of a building, is nicely framed, and you can see the moon nestled in one of the nooks of the building! I really liked the one with McDonalds because it speaks of how human ingenuity and priorities can be swept away by the incredible force of nature. McDonalds is such an icon of America and the West, and it speaks volumes to have it stripped apart. It almost looks post-apocalyptic. I love how the concrete stretching to the right makes it look like such a barren wasteland.

People

Winner: Band White Ride Submitted by: Stephanie Walley

Runner up: Chiangmaiuat Submitted by: Stefanie Parsons

In my opinion, the photo ‘Band White Ride’ is the best submitted photo overall. It is creative, lively, exciting and the black and white really adds to it. The photo is crisp and sharp, bright and well framed. Excellent! The runner up wasn’t so easy. I really liked all the foreign people photos. It seems people have been doing missions trips! I really liked ‘Lex and Young Girl’, and I thought the children in ‘Belen Bolonia Kids’ were very cute, but I had to choose ‘Chiangmaiuat’ as it tells such a compelling story. The photographer is somewhere in the far east (assumed) in a Buddhist temple. There are people praying at the front and the one person you expect to be lighting a candle somewhere in the scene, is actually cleaning up with a shopvac. The shutter speed was perfect as the vacuuming hand is slightly blurred, showing action. Well done.

Humour

Winner: Moses Jason Submitted by: Brandon Meyers

Runner Up: Battle Over Taxi Submitted by: Brandon Meyers

The clear winner here was ‘Moses Jason’. The look on his face and the undeniable photoshop skills shine through. I would frame that and put it up on wall, very good. As for runner up, I bent my judging to skills on the computer and time spent more than photographic skill and straight humour. ‘Mike is watching you’ will haunt my dreams for about a week, and Matt Harrison poking a doughboy and looking so unhappy about it is also a tad bit disturbing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing EBC lake transformed into Niagara falls, so ‘Battle Over Taxi’ gets the nod for runner up.

On Tuesday November, 28, The Encouragement Committee organized a chapel dedicated to students expressing their appreciation of the staff and faculty of EBC.  A special thanks to Jason Edgar, Angel Taylor and Heather Marion who organized this chapel.  The following are some highlights:

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Our Mission Statement:
To provide a common medium by which the Emmanuel Bible College community can come together in their diversity to be encouraged, entertained and informed, as well as to express their unique talents and concerns.

A Note from the Editor:
Welcome to the new home of the Voice! For the past few weeks, we have been working hard to set up the new website. Thank you to Trevor Creech for all your hard work and patience! After a year and a half using Blogger, the Publications Committee decided that it was time to become an independent website. And here we are! As this is the last issue of the semester and of the year 2006, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my committee for all their work thus far on the Voice. Your continued efforts and contributions are greatly appreciated; especially in the middle of stress week, you have still been diligent in writing. Thank you for helping to make this 2006/2007’s paper the most successful it has been in years. The semester has flown by, and as usual, projects all seem to be due at once.
When I was thinking about how overwhelmed I was this week, I remembered that we have a month of Christmas break. All the work we’re doing now is earning our Christmas break and making it that much more worthwhile. Work hard and be diligent with your time and responsibilities, and before you know it, Christmas break will be upon us.
If you’re looking for some Christmas music to listen to, visit yahoo music for some great Christmas radio stations, or attend the Friday December 8 chapel, where we will be singing Christmas carols.
I hope you all have a safe, enjoyable and relaxing holiday.Both to my committee and to the students, staff, faculty and community of Emmanuel Bible College, I wish you a Merry Christmas. See you next year!

[Note: If you wish to return to this page when visiting different sections of the Voice, click the Voice banner at the top.]

Included in this Issue:

• In the News – Jordan Vetro
• Christmas Production – Wesley Hague
• Christmas in November – Katelyn Unger
• Pastoral Retreat – Jason Edgar
• Spiritual Formation Retreat – Matt Cardases
• It’s Almost Christmas - PJ Wong
• Spotlight – Taryn Wiley
• Global Perspective – Rachel Neumeister
• Creative Corner:
• A Mountain of Sugar – Wesley Hague
• Devotional – Stephen Weber
• Restaurant Review – The Hamburger – Mike Salvatore
• Commentary:
• All-Nighters - Drew Peterson
• Communism – Jordan Vetro
• Injustice – Part 3 of 3 – Curtis Healy
• Photo Gallery:
• Photo Contest Winners (still to come…)
• Encouragement Chapel Photos (November 28)
• Voice on the Street
• Belief in Santa Claus - Jordan Vetro

EBC Campus as of December 4 - snow!

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By: Jordan Vetro

• The city of Beruit, Lebanon has braced itself for trouble as the current Hezballah leader has headed up a great deal of recent protest
• IN THE WORLD OF EVOLUTIONISM: A small chunk of meteorite at the University of Alberta is believed by many scientists to be the key to understanding the existence of life on earth.
• A man in Michigan is given a new hand after waiting 30 years for a transplant
• Liberal delegates were forced to cancel many appointments lately as many flights in the area have been delayed due to a rough stretch of freezing rain.
• Due to a constant loss of jobs, the Canadian unemployment rate is rising, to sit currently at 6.3%

For more information, see:

• www.google.ca/news
• www.thestar.com
• www.globeandmail.com
• www.cbc.ca

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

In 1931, the Coca-Cola Company commissioned Chicago illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop the image of a human-like Santa Claus, based on the positive public response to a magazine advertisement for Coca-Cola depicting such a character that appeared in late 1930. Prior to Sundblom’s first rendition in 1931, people envisioned Santa Claus as leprechaun-like, or as a queer mixture of a gnome and a bishop. Over the next third of a century, Sundblom’s Santa would be embraced by the public worldwide, and become a holiday tradition.

By: Wesley Hague

The Christmas production was an extravagant affair. It was composed of musical numbers singing some older Christmas music such as Gloria Festiva, Good King Wenceslas, Lo! How A Tose E’er Blooming, and The Little Drummer Boy. The music was performed excellently and displayed a lot of the vocal talent that is located here at EBC. Some of the names to note were Jamie Knight, Howie Allen, Chantelle Lowes, Johanna Snieder, and Jolene Voskamp. Mixed in between the music was several dramatic acts that focused on the image of gift giving to Jesus on the night he was born. The actors were all talent, yet Brandon Meyers had the crowd laugh at his many unique lines; I am sure more of the people who where there remember “the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips.” To show the out-pouring of support to EBC, the entire chapel was packed; more chairs had to be brought out to fit all those who where there to watch. Some of those who came to watch said the event was “great”, “excellently done”, “wonderful”. A lot of work went into putting the production together as some of the actors and musicians where chosen in September and October . Even throughout the week of the performance, many long hours of preparation and several rehersals that took up the entire evening occurred. A lot of work went and it resulted in a very successful performance. All those involved should be exceptionally proud of it. A special word of thanks goes out to Tabitha Rozeluk, Brandon Meyers and Marjorie Hopkins who were responsible for the organization of it all.

The set

Master of Ceremonies - Jeff Hopkins

Gloria Festiva Vocal Warm-up

Musical Organizer - Tabitha Rozeluk and her Little Drummy Boy brother, Jonathan Rozeluk

by: Katelyn Unger

On Wednesday, November 22nd several EBC students drove over to the headquarters of Operation Christmas Child to help out in their warehouse. After uniting in song and prayer, we stampeded up the stairs with several groups of elders for a seat in the training rooms. We watched a great little five minute video, and then were given instructions on the jobs we would be doing for our shift.
Most of us sorted through the boxes; we looked over them, exclaiming with joy or frustration at every box. Many of the boxes were packed with love, but there were some that were sad attempts at trying to help others. If the box was not done well enough, we would send it to the box hospital, where it would be quickly revived and stored with the other, finished boxes. After checked out the boxes, we would hand them off, and they would be packed away into larger boxes. Some of our strapping young men were chosen for loading these big boxes onto the trucks.
We were told that these Christmas boxes would be shipped to South America. The next time someone was going to look at these items, the box would be in the hands of a little boy or girl.
Thanks to everyone who came out; it was so much fun. I think we made some great friends among the older generation. I believe there is going to be another trip to Operation Christmas Child; keep your eye open for more details. If there is, I would advise you to go. We made many memories, and helped to make a Christmas for someone a world a way. If I were to summarize the day in one word, it would be “BOOM!”

The group of volunteers

Our fearless leader - Josh McClement

Worker Bees

Boxes awaiting sorting

by: Jason “Beard of Wisdom” Edgar

Just a few weeks ago, Olu Peters, Brett Andrews, and Dianne Cunningham organized a retreat at Crief Hills.  This was an opportunity to get away from campus, connect with the teachers on a new and more personal level, as well as share experiences and understandings of ministry with one another.  The seminars were quite helpful and practical.  There was a lot of time for questions, interaction, reflection, sharing, and things along those lines.
 But the best thing that I found about the retreat was that it was away from the school.  As a residence student, and my home being quite some distance, I rarely get a chance to leave campus.  Being able to get away not just from the campus, but from the city was of great tremendous value.  It was an absolutely refreshing experience.  The place was so peaceful.  There was a fair amount of land to walk, and think, reflect, soak in, or whatever you wanted to do!  It is a place to slow down and get right with God.  It is a place to enjoy a Sabbath’s day of rest.  The accommodations were quite nice as well.  Very basic, but it had heat, electricity, a kitchen, washrooms, showers, and dorm style bunks.  It was enough to not feel like home, but not enough to feel like one was “roughin’ it.”  If the sky had not been cloudy that night, the stars would have been absolutely beautiful as well.
The retreat only lasted 24 hours from start to finish.  One would think that 24 hours would not be enough, especially with crunch week coming up around the corner.  But to my surprise, the amount of rest that was had during the retreat felt like that of 72 hours worth!  The retreat was an amazing experience, and it is one thing that I will make sure I attend next year.  I highly recommend this retreat to any and all students who get the opportunity to partake in it!  Honestly, it will be one of best 24 hours ever spent!

by: Matt Cardases

I once read about a man who was plagued with constant fatigue. He was always tired but unable to sleep, irritable, and generally unsatisfied with everything. Frustrated and confused, he went to see his doctor. The doctor, having discovered that his patient was in decent overall health, asked him where his happiest childhood memory took place. The man answered, “At the beach”.  So the doctor told him to take a day off work, get up early, and take a drive to the beach, not to watch any TV, read the newspaper, or listen to any music in the morning, and not to listen to anything during the drive. The doctor told him to pack a lunch, but not to take any reading material. He then wrote something on three small pieces of paper, folded them, and told his patient to read them the next day, in order, at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m. They said the following:

Look back. The man looked back, bringing back old memories, happy ones and not so happy ones, replaying them in his head like movies. He felt warmed and soothed.

Listen carefully. As he sat in the sand, the man listened carefully to the roaring waves, the wind blowing in the long grass. He realized that for a brief moment in between each breaker, there is complete and utter silence.  The more he listened for the moment of silence, the longer and longer it seemed to him, and he was overwhelmed with peace.

Rethink your priorities. The man went through what he knew was most important to him and saw how he had neglected those things. He understood how he needed to rework his schedule to focus on what really mattered to him. He felt refreshed and determined to make changes in his life.

The man later wrote that this single day of retreat from his everyday surroundings was one of the most therapeutic, revitalizing experiences he had ever had. Thenceforth, whenever he began to feel unusually tired, overloaded, and listless, he would take a day off and drive to the beach, following the same steps.

It has become rather cliché to say that as students in current urban society we are always busy with papers or extracurricular activities and we are constantly bombarded with media messages. Loathe as I do to reiterate that, I think that as intellectually aware of this reality as we may be, on a practical level I really do not feel that we attempt to counteract it. We go insane with overdue homework, field educations, etc. Our social circles don’t change. As much as we can head to the Activity Centre to play pool, watch a movie, play cards, or just hang out, we can never really get away; we just ignore things for a while. Just like Hotel California, it seems that mentally, we can check out any time we like, but we can never leave.

It was with realities like this in mind that Sean O’Leary worked an overnight spiritual retreat on November 14 and 15 at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre into his Spiritual Formation class. The idea was for the class to relocate to new surroundings with fewer distractions; to devote ourselves to worship and communion. Sean led us in several worship sessions, we took communion, we shared personal experiences and life stories, shared food together, and had political debates that eventually deteriorated into determining that Jack Layton should be prime minister based exclusively on his moustache. We took a walk alone through the trails for prayer and reflection.

At Crieff Hills, I found the austere silence and the sublime tranquility refreshing. I realized that the necessity for spiritual retreat is often spoken about but rarely acted on. At the end of Luke 4, Jesus goes out to a “solitary place,” and in chapter 5, it says that “crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses, but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed”. We get caught up in our academic and ministerial responsibilities and it becomes easy to think that other people need us more than we need God. That’s not true. We must take time away to be with God. I realize this is extremely difficult at EBC, but there are always ways to escape. Even a long walk or a trip home on the weekend can work. There’s more solitude in the immediate vicinity of EBC than you’d think; go explore, you’ll find it. Even better: take Spiritual Formation with Sean next semester.

by: PJ Wong

Christmas is coming quickly and all of the stores are scrambling to sell everything from Christmas socks and shoes to the chocolates that are dated 1982. Everyone is falling into the “Christmas Spirit” and are putting up their Christmas trees and Christmas lights.  To be more politically correct, people are falling into their feelings of giving, putting up a giving tree and giving lights. With all of this chaos, a good idea is to realize the reason we celebrate Christmas.           But on a much lighter note, here are some great gift ideas that will fit your budget as a student at Emmanuel: Remember that sweater grandma knit for you? Remember how much care she put into it? Remember how much you thought it was tacky but she thought it was the greatest gift ever? Remember she gave it to YOU? I bet she won’t!  So give the best gift ever and give it back!  Canadians are notorious for getting gifts and re-wrapping them to give to someone who will actually use it; why break tradition? Value Village has the right gifts and prices for EVERYTHING! Every mother says the best gift they could ever get is their child’s love.  Kill two birds with one stone and give her just that.  And since you’ve already killed two birds, you don’t need to buy a turkey.  Guys, for that special someone in your life, you can avoid spending hundreds of dollars by giving her something of her favourite colour.  (You do remember her favourite colour right?) And finally for the ladies, remember that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  A pie will say it all. 

 by: Drew Peterson

You must understand the spirit in which I tell you this.  I am speaking to you as a friend who has your best interest in mind, as a friend who longs to see you prosper and rise above foolishness.  And also as a friend who knows that sanctification is an on going battle of selfishness versus godliness.  We all battle it together, we all fail, and we all succeed through the grace of God.  Before I continue on let me tell you two things.  The first is that this letter will only specifically apply to a few people.  And second, if you don’t like being corrected, maybe you shouldn’t read this article until you are in the right frame of mind to receive correction.  Because I am going to address a very specific act of foolishness that college students participate in. 

Papers are adding up, group projects are getting in the way, field-ed and co-ops are too demanding, and I still need time for friends, family, and myself.  A question you may ask yourself is, “How am I going to get it all done?”  Crunch time is here, and you are over burdened, stressed, frustrated, and quite on edge.  There aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done so you come up with an ingenious plan to stay up all night pull an all-nighter.  Not the smartest idea.  Wisdom would tell us that we should have started working on our papers months ago when we were staying up late playing video games, watching movies, and socializing with friends.  So because of our foolishness, we have to walk through the valley of shadow of death for a week.  We have to suffer the consequences.  Most of us are mature enough to take ownership of our mistakes.  Okay, I think everyone would buy that.  But we would truly be fools if we didn’t learn from our mistakes and learn some discipline for next semester.  But this is not the only mistake some of us make in regards to pulling all-nighters.  According to Proverbs 12:23 fools will broadcast their foolishness.  The application of this is that when anyone of us decides to pull an all-nighter, many of us feel the need to tell the world that we haven’t slept for 35, 45, or 55 hours.  In doing so, is like rising a loud speaker up and verbalizing of one’s own foolishness. So to all of you that announce your lack of sleep and how much work you have to the world, please stop.  It’s not making you look good, nor God, who you represent in the actions you take and words you speak every day. 

Hard work brings rewards such as not having a crunch week.  Will you be disciplined and diligent next semester?  I plan to be, and I hope you will be.  My prayer is that this article fell on good ground.  And it you are feeling attacked, forgive me, it was never my intent to irritate. Proverbs 28:23 tells us that, “In the end, people appreciate honest criticism far more than flattery.”