From the Editors Desk

The end is in sight, as this is the last issue of this semester. I would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone who reads the Voice, and I definitely want to give a thank-you for reading it. I’ve enjoyed working on and writing for the Voice this semester, and I look forward with excitement to what the next semester has to offer. It is a sincere prayer of mine that you all are able to make it to Christmas as stress free as possible, to enjoy the time off with family and friends. Regardless of the stressors that can be found with the finishing off of school, Christmas shopping, and perhaps being involved in Christmas events, I hope that you are able to breathe a sigh of relief and be able to take in the majesty and beauty of the season. To be able to walk or drive along and see the amazing decorations and contrast of beautiful Christmas lights and soft white snow. To be able to inhale deeply and take in the smells and tastes of Christmas, of fresh, but cold air, the pine smell of a Christmas tree, the smell and delight of a cooked turkey, or ham. And most of all, to be able to reflect on the majesty of the season, as we rest in the knowledge and remembrance that Christ descended from Heaven, giving up all the power and glory that he had, to live on earth as Emmanuel.

Shalom, and God Bless

Wesley Hague: Editor

In this Issue:
Main Page:
Christmas Production: Generations to Generations: Christie Heemskerk
Tournament Day: Matthew Vandervoet
Volunteers Needed: Julie-Anne
Vegeterian Experiment: Matt Winger
Fun Stuff – Twas the Nite Before Finals

Creative Corner:
A Hard Path: Wesley Hague

Devotionals:
EBC Devotional: Jason Edgar
Evergreen: James Fretz
Revival: Tim Chester

Global Perspectives:
EBC Students Abroad

Reviews:
Music: The Killers “Day and Age”: Mathew Winger

Social Concerns:
Advent Conspiracy: Mathew Winger

Spotlight:
Vice President: Melissa Doerr

Voice on the Street:
“Favourite Christmas Tradition”: Matthew Vandervoet

A certain glow was cast upon the chapel stage the night of November 28th and 29th. This was in partially due to the ambiance, but mostly because the sound, stage and technical crew was amazing in helping with Emmanuel Bible College’ annual Christmas production. This year’s theme “Generation to Generation” was a great display of how Christianity has fit into Canadian culture throughout the years.

The crowd’s voices lingered as Rachel Neumeister began to play the piano. As the choir approached the stage, their voices rang throughout the chapel “ding, dong”. The dramatic presentations accurately reflected the theme of Generation to Generation well and were entertaining to watch. The crowd broke out in laughter during James Moore’s monologue about the man who wrote the hymn God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and cried during Brandon Meyer’s performance reflecting the life of World War II soldier during Christmas.

The monks were a personal favourite. Although there was a slight mistake on Friday night, Brandon Meyers, Daniel Weber and Kyle Wijnands pulled off an amazing performance on Saturday night. “I’m really enjoying the show” said Ruth Scott. “It accurately reflects what Christmas is all about”. “Everybody was just bang on” said Tina “the singing was really good”. All in all people really enjoyed the show and the glory of God was reflected through the nature of how it was presented.

Christie Heemskerk

Tournament Day was held on the evening of November the 19th by the Student Life Committee. There were three categories that people could enter: The Guitar Hero, Foosball, and Pool tournaments. Guitar Hero was held earlier on in the day, and had a fairly large number of contestants. While some people played at various difficulties for fun prior to the tournament, the official difficulty setting was medium. After climbing the ranks, James Giles was named the Guitar Hero of the tournament. Unfortunately there were no contestants for hard mode. foosball and Pool were played simultaneously, in best out of three matches. In the end Brandon Myers beat Dan Wallace at fooseball 2 to 1. Andrew Martin won the Pool tournament after several good games. The day was a lot of fun, and I hope to see something similar next semester.

Matthew Vandervoet

Calling All EBC students – The Wildcat Café needs your help:

Seeking volunteers  to work one shift a week in the café serving your fellow students next semester: All Shifts Available. A training session will be offered for those who sign up, whether a new or current volunteer – contact Julie-Anne Wideman (me_wideman@hotmail.com)  with your preferred shift to work.

We Need You!

I think I have always struggled with speaking before I think. Sometimes I will say something, never once thinking of the effects that it will have on others or myself around me. Two months ago I said something, trying to go big rather than “going home,” as the saying goes. It all started as a joke/challenge, “let’s be vegetarians for a week.” It didn’t stop there and I eventually looped Brandon Meyers and Robbie into a scheme of eating only vegetables until Christmas.

Why vegetarian, why not the infamous “Super Size Me” diet or something else that included more food? There wasn’t a lot of “variety” (as I was soon to find out) and it was a very random decision, but that night after dinner, Brandon and I sat down and signed a 3-month contract stating that we were now vegetarian until Christmas.

We decided to develop a bit of reasoning behind why we were doing something so rash such as missing out on turkey dinner at Thanksgiving. What was the purpose of our experiment? Not trying to single any one out, because I am guilty as well, but I wanted to try something before I “knocked” it. Also being newly in charge of Social Concerns here at EBC, I thought the experiment would be applicable. The process of making meat is very negative towards the impact it has on the environment. Unless you eat green eggs and ham, meat isn’t green. Cows are a leading cause to greenhouse gases produced, and the amount of water that goes into making a 5kg piece of steak in very substantial. Sure there is a downside, but what are the upsides? I wanted to discover the pros and cons to a food choice lifestyle as being a vegetarian.

The experiment had started, and the first week in it was very easy. All we had to do was show up in the cafeteria, ask for the vegetarian option, and take a couple “vegetarian” jokes. It was pretty straightforward. The guys opposed and the girls supported – but that is beside the point, we clearly weren’t trying to impress anyone.

It was exciting trying new foods, learning about what we could eat in order to get a good amount of protein that we were missing form not eating meat. Lentils, beans, and soy. The funniest thing to me was while I was being served my food I would see a person being served meat and their plate was full of options; meat, vegetables, and whatever else went with it. My plate usually consisted of 3 separate styles of vegetables. And then I would leave the line and proceed to get some salad.

Unfortunately, the turning point for me may have been towards the beginning when I accidentally ate a piece of pizza covered in pepperoni… because this started a chain that wasn’t so accidental. I tried hard, and managed to not eat any meat over Thanksgiving, but late nights and weekends got the best of me. I wouldn’t consider myself a full-time vegetarian anymore, but I did learn a lot from this experiment.

Being a vegetarian is a hard thing at EBC. I would eat the vegetarian option, and shortly after find myself needing to eat again. I don’t think that I would do it again, unless I lived on my own and was actually making the food myself. Being a vegetarian isn’t necessarily healthier because you have to try a lot harder to get the vitamins and nutrient that you are missing when not eating meat.

It has been fun, but honestly, I cannot wait until December 23 – Christmas dinner this year will be very, very good.

Matt Winger

Poem: Twas the Nite Before Finals

Thud, Thud, Thud, each step I take onward
Thud, Thud, Thud, as I continue going forward
Thud, Thud, Thud, this rhythm is soothing
Thud, Thud, Thud, as my burden slowly losing

I will continue on, going towards you
Cause that is all I really know how to do.
Each step I take unknowing
exactly where I’m going
Yet the path I’m on, I know it is true

Thud, Thud, Thud, the road is not the easiest to take
Thud, Thud, Thud, sometimes it feels like a mistake
Thud, Thud, Thud, for every valley there’s a hill
Thud, Thud, Thud, to continue, I must have the will

I will continue on, going towards you
Cause that is all I really know how to do.
Each step I take unknowing
exactly where I’m going
Yet the path I’m on, I know it is true

Thud, Thud, Thud, yet for every night, there is a day
Thud, Thud, Thud, and for every struggle there’s a way
Thud, Thud, Thud, you are there, and you are you
Thud, Thud, Thud, you are there and you are true.

Wesley Hague

December 3, 2008

Good day to you reader!  My prayer for you as I type this, is that you will be able to connect with God, and be drawn closer to Him today, through this is some way.

Please open in a word of prayer that the Holy Spirit would come and prepare you to hear from the Lord.

It has been a while since I have written, so let us do a recap of what we have learned thus far.  We have been looking at the life of Joshua, and discovering some of the things that made him a great leader before he was called by God.  We have learned to be an affective leader:
•    We need to depend on God.
•    We need to trust in God
•    We need to be obedient to God’s word
•    We need to seek God.

Before we read some scripture, let me give you a bit of background information.  Moses had been looking after the people for some time now, and it was starting to weigh him down.  So, his father-in-law, Jethro, suggested to him that he should share the load (Exodus 18).  He did so, but he ran into the same problem again later on.

Please read Numbers 11:16-30   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2011:16-30&version=31

Now, there is a lot of neat things that go on here.  The quail story is pretty cool for sure, but I want to focus on Moses and the elders’ selection.  God places His Spirit on these elders to empower them to do the work, and they prophecy (appointed to speak on God’s behalf).  And Joshua is about to learn a lesson that took Moses a long time to learn:

You cannot do it on your own.

Moses finally realized that it is not good for himself to micromanage (do it alone).  Joshua thought that Moses had to do it all.  He was wrong.  Now, we need to remember that we don’t need to wait for the Holy Spirit; He comes as soon as we accept Christ.  There is no special appointment necessary.  So, we, as Christians, are already equipped to do the work.  BUT, we can’t do it alone!

I’m sure Dr. Roy, or Dr. D would be able to vouch that EBC is not a one man operation.  And although we have assigned tasks, jobs and ministries to do, we are not alone. We have:
•    God
•    student council/committees
•    peers – each other

There is a reason that we are called the body of Christ, and that’s because, although we have different functions, we are all working for one unified purpose: to advance the Kingdom of Christ!  So let’s do our part, and remember not to do it alone.

By Jason Edgar

Did you know that the evergreen tree or “Christmas Tree” has biblical significance? It represents everlasting life. The evergreen tree is one of the only trees that are “all-season”. Now, if I were to be any plant, for sure I would choose evergreen. Beaten by storms, cold and snow it endures! One of my favourite scripture verses is Ephesians 4:14-15- so we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes, rather speak the truth in love, we are to grow up in him who is the head, into Christ.

Any other tree: maple, oak, birch, alder are all ones beaten by winds, fallen leaves and barren during the winter. This reminds me of the parable of the sower, where the seeds fall among rocks, the have no root and in time of testing fall away (Luke 8). Now, when the weather improves the trees renew and flourish and hit the dirt when it gets too tough again. The same can be said of us, do we give up when the storms of life hit? A popular song by Casting Crowns tells us to Praise God in the storm. He loves us amidst our brokenness. Just as he cares for the trees that fall away and renew year after year. We must trust God, for everlasting life, our seasons should not seem so rough if God is on our side, full-on faith in him is the answer. Popular Christian band: Switchfoot released a song called Evergreen, singer Jon Foreman writes these words:

Me and the trees, losing our leaves, Falling like blood on the ground I want to be evergreen Everything dies, I know last night Part of me wasn’t around I want to be evergreen, I want to live all year round.

James Fretz.

The idea of revival has always captivated me.  This semester I have done a paper and presentation on revival and I have determined that true revival has its foundation in a strong conviction of sin.  Do I really know that I am a sinner in need of a Saviour?  This is something that I have been wrestling out in my own faith. With this struggle has come a comforting perspective.  I want to never forget that I am a sinner.  Yes Christ has saved me, but I never want to lose sight that apart from Christ I deserve the deepest pit of hell.  This is comforting because the fact that I am a sinner, gives me something in common with every single person in the universe.  I want to see people the way God sees them, being aware of my own sinfulness gives me the right lens.  I am not better than anyone because I am a Christian. I am just humbled to be in the service of God through Christ.

As we head into this Christmas season I challenge anyone who reads this to look at own self and come to terms (if not already) with ones sinfulness.  Because it spawns a fresh gratitude for Christ.  I think that this gratitude should be the thankfulness that makes up the essence of our lives.

Blessing,
T. J. Chester.