Roadside Assistance Issue 8.5

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Roadside Assistance Magazine 38 Queensdale Ave. W. Hamilton, ON L9C 1B5

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what this is

Roadside Assistance is a forum for Reformed youth. A forum is a place where people talk together. So listen and read, but go ahead and write something as well. We would like you to send your articles, poems, and art, and well do our best to include them in the upcoming issues!

This particular forum is a place for discussing faith matters, encouraging one another in the faith, passing on Bible knowledge, building and expressing our beliefs as Reformed Christians, sharpening hearts and minds, stimulating reading on Bible-related issues, and educating each other.

Do you want to write for RA? Email us your articles and maybe your work will appear in an upcoming issue!

behind the scenesBoard: Iwan Borst (Editor) John Boekee Alyssa Tuinstra Alina Van Goor Stephanie VisscherDesign: Christie Hoeksema

03 Editorial: Choosing Your Career Stephanie Visscher

07 Roadquest: The Importance of Prayer Iwan Borst

09 Poem: Not in Another Taylor Riemersma

11 Innerviews: Karen Spithoff Alina Van Goor

15 Article: Gillespie Academy Leana Lodder

21 Creative Highway Alyssa Tuinstra

Volume 8, Issue 5 January 2015

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Written by: Stephanie Visscher Hamilton, ON

What are you going to do when you finish high school? You have probably been asked this question before, or some variation of it (What will you do when you finish university? What do you want to be when you grow up?) Maybe you already know what the answer is. Maybe you are still searching. Maybe you change your mind every week.

It is normal to search for the answer, normal to be unsure of what God has called you to do in His world for the rest of your life. A few people know what they are going to do very early on in life, and never doubt it. However, even they must consider what God has called them to do and how they can follow His will for their lives. Perhaps you are not working right now. Maybe you are in high school or university. Perhaps you are working but it is not your forever job, just a temporary job while you figure out what you want to do with your life. We all need to consider what kind of career we will have, where that job will take us, and how we will use it for Gods glory. Proverbs 15:22 says, Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. It is so important that we seek the counsel of others when we are considering our options for education and careers. Ask your parents, your grandparents, your teachers or other people whose opinions you respect to give you advice and help you choose wisely. Talk to your elders, your minister or your friends about what kind of career you will not only succeed in, but that you can use to the glory of your Father in heaven.

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Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

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Consider, too, where your job will take you geographically. Will you constantly be travelling, negatively impacting your ability to commit to a local church and be involved in the congregation? Will you be located so remotely that attending church is nearly impossible? If you hope to have a family, will you be able to support them, to spend time with them and be involved in their lives, or will your job take away from your calling as a spouse and parent? The church

must have a role in our lives and we ought not to choose a career that takes us away from it.

Of course, income must play a role in

deciding on a career, although as Christians we also trust in the Lord to provide what we need. Often we think we need more than we do, and actually many things in our lives are wants rather than needs.

Hebrews 13:5-6 says, Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content

with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. We

are not to choose our careers based solely on income, as money should not be our idol or our god. However, a father

must be able to provide for his family, and it is important for all of us to be able to earn enough to not only provide for ourselves but also to give generously to the Lord and to those in need. Other than asking for advice on this subject, how does the choice of a future career impact us now? In so many ways! Are you taking courses in high school that will benefit you in your future education? Are you spending time with people who encourage you and advise you wisely in your future planning? Keep the future in mind as you make decisions every day. Pray about the choices you are making, and be open to being led in the direction the Lord is calling you to go.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed Proverbs 16:3

We spend so much time at our jobs. If a person works 8 hours a day, 5 days a week (and this is conservative for many people who put in long hours of overtime each week), he or she can expect to spend 2040 hours a year, assuming a week of vacation time, or 93,600 hours over their lifetime (assuming they work from the age of 20 to the age of 65) at work. That is the equivalent of more than ten and a half years spent at work! Should that time not be spent praising the Lord with our tasks, as well as being enjoyable? Find a career that is glorifying to your Father in heaven. This does not necessarily mean you have to be a pastor. Even though the Proverbs 31 woman is not described as doing spiritual tasks, she is praised for carrying out daily physical labour, even though it may seem mundane to some. Many people think they have to be a minister, a missionary or a Bible translator in order to glorify God in their work. This is not true. Of course, these careers are glorifying to the Lord, but they are not the only ones. A landscaper, a hairdresser, a doctor, a stay-at-home mother, a police officer, a nurse and a businessman can all glorify the Lord in their work, as can many, many others. The Lord is glorified when we use our talents, our creativity and our gifts to serve others, to be stewards of his earth, to maintain peace in the world, to care for people and to spread the gospel. It is important that we choose careers that are also enjoyable to us. Use the talents and gifts you have been given to help you in your choice. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 says, A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? We are called to find satisfaction in our work and to enjoy our tasks. Find something you love and use it for Gods glory, that you might not only enjoy your work but also glorify your heavenly Father through it.

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Commit to the Lordwhatever you do, and your

plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:3

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What does your prayer life look like? Does it follow the track of a roller-coaster, always going up and down, speeding up and slowing down, never getting into a regular pattern? Or have your prayers become so regular that they end up being some kind of formula, the mantra of a meditating monk? How often do we consider the power and importance of prayer? Scrip-ture says that the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. ( James 5:16) Jesus taught his disciples: You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it. ( John 14:14). He also gave us the example of the persistent widow in Luke 18 to encourage us to persistent prayer. And through Christ we have access to the throne of grace and we have an Interces-sor at the right hand of God, who has been given all power in heaven and on earth. But He only gives to those who ask Him for it. (Matt. 7:7)

So prayer is important, but it can also be difficult. Sometimes it is hard to get all our thoughts straight and include all the prayer points that are dear to us. At other times we might re-alize that we completely forgot to confess our sins or to praise God for who He is and what He does. And sometimes, we just do not know where to start.

If you have encountered any of these problems or have dis-cussed helpful tips to strengthen your prayers, please share them with us. Perhaps you use the ACTS (Adoration, Confes-sion, Thanksgiving and Supplication) guideline to structure your prayer, or you make good use of one of the prayer apps that is currently available, or you started a prayer group that encourages others. If any of these things has or has not helped you, please share your thoughts with us so that we might en-courage each other to be fervent in prayer.

Why do we seek our lives in emptiness?Souls, dont you see the shallow brokenness?We are so far away from holiness. Did we forget?Do we ignore? You are not your own,You were bought at price.He is our Father. He says,Seek your life in me.Find your all in meNot in another, Not in another.

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With painted smiles we hide our empty shellsThe wretchedness inside no one could tell.This state were in just shows how far we fell. Did I forget?Do I ignore? I am not my own.I have been redeemed.You are my Father.Help me find my way.Help me not to stray.Not for another. Never another.

Not in AnotherTaylor RiemersmaGuelph, ON

For this issue, Roadside Assistance interviewed Karen Spithoff and asked her a few questions about her participation in a recent service trip to Macei, Brazil with Faithworks.

Roadside Assistance: What is Faithworks?

Karen Spithoff: Faithworks is an organization that seeks to serve members of the Canadian Reformed Churches and their sister churches by organizing volunteer Service and Learning Together (SALT) teams. SALT teams travel to various locations around the world to work with partner organizations that are involved in long-term development activities. The goal of Faith-works is that SALT team members serve by showing Christian assistance, generosity, mercy and kindness to the poor out of thankfulness for our salvation in Jesus Christ and learn about poverty, service and our role in the Lords kingdom.

RA: Why did you want to get involved with Faithworks?

KS: I was looking for an opportunity to use my time and skills to serve God and to experience Gods work in building his kingdom in another part of the world. A presentation by a pas-tor from Brazil at my church in Hamilton inspired me to learn more about the mission work in Brazil. I had also heard very positive feedback from friends and family who participated in past Faithworks service trips.

RA: Can you tell us a little about your trip?

KS: I travelled to Macei, Brazil with a team of seven other volunteers from July 29 to August 9, 2014. The purpose of our trip was to assist with several work projects at the Escola Cris-t Joo Calvino. The school is located in a poor area of Macei and provides Christian education to approximately 100 chil-dren. In addition, our goal was to show support to the church community of the Igreja Reformada do Brasil located next door to the school and build relationships with our Brazilian brothers and sisters.

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Innerviews

RA: What kind of things were you involved with during the trip?

KS: Work projects at the school included building a canopy over a section of the schoolyard to shelter students and par-ents from the rain and sun, building a tiled bench, plastering, and painting a wall surrounding the school and church prop-erty. We also spent a lot of time playing games with the school children and getting to know school staff members.

RA: What were a few highlights of the trip?

KS: One highlight of the trip was attending church services at the Igreja Reformada do Brasil and being able to experience Gods presence as we celebrated the Lords Supper, witnessed a public profession of faith and joined in the singing of psalms and hymns, even though we could only minimally understand the language. A second highlight was witnessing such great examples of Christian service in the women from the church community who spent hours preparing food for our team. We had come to serve and yet we were humbled by their self-

less service. A third highlight was forming relationships with members of the school and church community that can be maintained through the use of social media. We are able to share aspects of our daily life and pray for each others needs despite being so far apart.

RA: What advice would you give to others who would like to get involved in their community and/or participate in a service trip?

KS: Service does not need to be big and flashy; there are so many opportunities to serve others in a small way and still make a big difference. Service can take the form of making a meal, lending a listening ear, providing hospitality, shovelling a driveway, or serving on a committee. If you feel that God is calling you to participate in a service trip, do not think that you need to have construction skills to be a valuable member of a service team. Serve with a humble heart and a positive attitude and be open to learning about Gods work in cultures different from our own.

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Gillespie Academy Leana Lodder (Guelph, ON)

Leana Lodder was a student at Gillespie Academy in 2012/2013 and shared her perspective of the school with Roadside Assistance Magazine.

The Question

What are you planning on doing after high school? If you are anything like me, you have probably heard that question enough times to make your head hurt. It can be an especially aggravating question if you feel like you really have no idea what to do with your life. What if you are not sure what to do after high school? Or what if you feel discouraged or uneasy about going to a college or university that attacks the truth of the Christian worldview? Maybe you want to lay a good foun-dation as you enter the workforce or plan to build a Christian home? You might beand hopefully arewondering how you can equvwip yourself to battle the anti-Christian mindset in these institutions and in our culture generally.

As young people leaving high school, many of which are Chris-tian high schools, it can be (more than) a little overwhelming to face the future in an increasingly godless society. Yet we can not just run and hide under a rock. God calls us to go out into that society with his Word and share the gospel, the gos-pel that applies to education, work, and family. So how can we prepare ourselves for that?

Enter Gillespie Academy. 181615

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View of Education

Nestled comfortably in the city of Woodstock, ON, Gillespie is a one year post-secondary program designed to equip students with the proper tools and grounding for university, future em-ployment, or the building of a Christian home. The great thing about Gillespie is that it stands in stark contrast to the secular view of education, evidenced in its motto: Colossians 1:17, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

What is the secular view of education, though? Here is the brutal truth: secular post-secondary education completely disregards Christ as the unifying factor of all reality, including knowledge and education. For example, in psychology, how does the concept of what a human is connect with sexuali-ty? Or in medicine, how do our crazy technological advanc-es connect with actual practice? And how do the arts and the sciences relate to one another? These are questions secular universities cannot fully answer because they have no under-standing of the God who holds all these subjects together. They reject Christ as the king and director of all creation. As a result of this underlying flaw in the system, the secular educa-tional system has sadly become more about getting a job to make money than about learning about who God is as He has revealed Himself in creation and the Bible. As Christians we pursue knowledge because we worship the God of Truth who reveals Himself in creation and in his Word. For us, education should not be about making money but about building a god-ly character and developing our gifts for use in his kingdom. Unfortunately, you just will not hear that from the world.

This does not mean you are sinning if you go to a secular uni-versityyou just need to know what you are up against and prepare yourself for it. And by the way, even if you are not looking to go to school, you will encounter this mindset no

matter what you do. Gillespie Academy comes into the picture here because it is geared specifically to give you the tools you need to be a Christian in this kind of cultural atmosphere.

Denominational Affiliation

So how are the Canadian Reformed churches connected to this school? Gillespie Academy is a ministry of Grace ARPC (Associ-ate Reformed Presbyterian Church), a denomination which is connected to the Canadian Reformed Churches through NA-PARC (North American Reformed and Presbyterian Council). The teachers at Gillespie are required to subscribe either to the Westminster Standards or the Three Forms of Unity and they teach from this perspective. In short, Gillespie Academy is a confessionally Reformed school which faithfully maintains a sola scriptura attitude. Part of what makes this place unique is that the faculty and students come from various reformed denominations. The commonality in terms of confessions and the perspective that Gods Word is authoritative breeds not discord but rather an attitude of humility and mutual respect.

Courses

Gillespie offers a unique curriculum, summarised in the fol-lowing words from the schools director Rev. Brian Murray: Basically our current curriculum starts with the principle that Gods Word speaks to absolutely every area of life and that central to the message of the Bible is the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, the first segment of the curriculum deals with Biblical studies. The students take an Old and New Testament survey as well as a full year of Systematic Theology to help solidify this essential foundation.

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The second segment of the curriculum deals with what many might call worldview studies. Here the students do a rigorous study of the history of Western thought, paying particular at-tention to critiquing this history with the light of Gods Word. This course together with a course in practical ethics gets the students to begin to properly assess where we are as a society as well as to begin to wrestle with where we ought to be. The final segment of the curriculum deals broadly with the issue of effective communication. It is all well and good to have a solid Biblical foundation and a firm grasp on where we are as a society but it does little good for society in general if we can-not effectively communicate these things. Thus, the students spend time studying logic, written and oral communication, as well as a class dealing with evangelism and apologetics.

Student Life

In addition to the Biblical foundation and the rich curriculum offered at Gillespie, there is a lot to be said about its student life. The small class sizes (about 10-15 students) and unique nature of the program lend themselves to an all-around great experience. You and your classmates are all there for the same purpose and as a result you have an opportunity to form lifelong and Christ-focused friendships. The students are also surrounded by the local church community during their time at Gillespie, making for a supportive and up-building en-vironment.

What You Come Away With

So, what are you planning on doing after high school? Hope-fully this article has planted a helpful idea in your mind, and after reading it perhaps you will be encouraged to prayerful-ly consider attending Gillespie. It will stretch you to dig into Gods Word and see how Christ is evident in every area of your life, and equip you with the tools to face your post-high school future. A year in the span of your whole life is not really long at all, and it is an investment you will not regret. *You can visit Gillespies website at www.gillespieacademy.ca or check them out on Facebook for more information.

This article (http://thechristianpundit.org/2013/02/06/gilles-pie-academy/#more-4453) includes an interview with the Di-rector of Gillespie and answers some FAQs.

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CREATIVE HIGHWAY By Alyssa Tuinstra

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lords holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love

that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17b-19

LONGKnow therefore that the LORD your God is God;

he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love

him and keep his commandments

Deut 7:9

HIGHNow if we are children, then we are heirsheirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in

his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Romans 8:17

WIDEFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall

not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

DEEPBut God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8