Rest and Spiritual Pathways

By: Lincoln Li, Flemingdon Park | Outreach worker

What does rest look like to you? Is it taking a day off to sleep in? To go on a nice vacation? Is it spending time with friends or loved ones? For me, I thought those were the things that would give me rest in preparation for me to go back into work afresh and renewed. However, I’d still feel exhausted after all that. I am physically rested, but why do I still feel so tired?

What about spiritual rest? Have you rested enough spiritually? 
Before I share about my experience, let’s talk about Spiritual Pathways really quickly. It’s the different ways you may be connecting with God. There are a total of 9 pathways. To find out which ones are yours, here’s a questionnaire to find out which pathways you use to connect with God! 

The month of September has been surprisingly busy. In the beginning, I thought it would be a straightforward month with the usual kids and youth hangouts. However, turns out there were many social gatherings from meeting different people, to church sharings on top of the afterschool programming. I felt exhausted. It was also not very helpful that the upcoming school year seemed everso daunting since everything was up in the air (no thanks to COVID). Before I knew it, I felt as though I was on autopilot -going through the motions without really being aware of God in the process. Things that once brought joy, brought distress. Meaningful interactions became a chore. Slowly, I felt as though I was burning out. I tried exercising more and sleeping more, but I felt empty. 

We have designated rest and reflection weeks at work, though for me, there was little time to rest due to a backlog of tasks that needed to be done. Still, at least I found peace and stillness during those 45 mins of doing the reflection exercises. God revealed to me the importance of rest. That it’s not just about the fun activities I get to do on a day off, but rather setting aside some quiet time to spend with Him. Whether it was continuing to venture through with the Old Testament reading, journaling, praying, or reading a Christian book (currently chipping away at Case for Faith), it was very peaceful and spirit filling. The reflection exercises also brought about the importance of continually setting aside time to rest in God as something that is part of your day, month, and year. How I interpreted this was carving out time (about an hour) daily, setting aside a day of rest (once a month), and planning a retreat once a year. This intentional aspect of resting also tied in with Spiritual Pathways -one’s most natural way of connecting with God. Mine just so happens to be reading, watching sermons, and listening to podcasts.

By resting in God, I can refocus on where He is in my life and ministry. By resting in God, I can receive His love and also give it more freely and intentionally in areas of ministry, relationships, etc.  As hectic seasons wind down and a new one begins, it is important for me to take time to rest in God’s presence because this year is full of unknowns, which can be emotionally, spiritually, and mentally draining. That is why rest, at least for me, is the thing to remember during this time of ministry.

If you are interested in learning more about resting and slowing down, here are two exercises that helped me.

Exercise #1- A time of reflection

1. What exhausts you or keeps you working past your limits?

2. When and where do you most deeply rest?  Who helps you rest?

3. What is it like for you to set aside time to play? How regular and inviolable is that time?

Action item: Write down what a perfect day of rest and recreation would look like to you.  Is it within the realm of possibility?  Plan when you can take this day or a version of it.

Note: Taken from Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by A.A. Calhoun

Exercise #2 - A time for application

• Watch this clip and download this Rule of Life worksheet (pg. 10 graphic organizer) 

• Fill in the Prayer box with things you can do during your carved out time with God - prayer postures, praying scripture, daily devotionals, Bible study, silence and solitude etc.

• Fill in the Rest box with what you can do to rest each day, each week, each month, and each year.

• Fill in the Work box with the commitments you have at work, church, and with family.

• Fill in the Relationship box with what time you want to carve out for the people in your life.

Fall Family Activities

By: Carmen Tan, Kingston-Galloway | Outreach worker

Family-Friendly Hikes All Year Round 

During the pandemic, the Outreach Workers in all of the sites utilized the outdoor space to run programs. The great outdoors or even playing outside the building or your front step allows the kids to release all their energy with the right activities. 
We would create obstacle courses, skip and race one another to see who the fastest is. At Kingston-Galloway, we enjoy ravine walks where the kids can explore God’s beautiful creation.

Visit Glen Stewart Park Trail (The Beaches)
First time doing walks as a family? Enjoy a short and sweet outdoor preserve featuring a shaded, boardwalk trail winding through the stream. This shaded trail will make sure the kids are nice and cool.

Visit Vista Trail in Scarborough (Rouge Valley)
Enjoy a 3 km hike trail with your children, explore the trees and God’s beautiful nature. At the end of the Vista Trail, you will find a two-level viewing platform to view Toronto’s autumn colours and spectacular valley views. 

Visit Moccasin Trail Park (North York)
Have you ever driven on the DVP and noticed a rainbow tunnel? Bring the kids and the family to find the rainbow tunnel at Moccasin Trail Park. A 15-hectare park at Lawrence and East and Don Valley Parkway and walk through a naturalized ravine forest.

Spiritual Activities

The modern-day family is always out and about and the opportunity together becomes rare. Here are some spiritual activities for your children to do together as a family.

1)    Read the Jesus Story Bible together
We love using this book to teach the children who God is and why Jesus is so important. A great way to teach the children in your life about God’s never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. If you need more of a teaching resource, search online for lessons.

2)    Pray Together
At programs, we are teaching the children they can talk to God directly. We teach the children and youth, they can directly speak to God through prayer. Try praying once a day and have your child repeat after you. Let’s put our hands together and bow our heads.
“God, we thank you for your love for us. We are grateful for the food and home you have provided. Thank you for keeping us safe and continually guiding our paths. May I learn to be kind and compassionate to others today Amen”
If you have older kids, try to do a prayer walk around your community - praying for your neighbours.

3)    Worship Together
Every child learns differently, try different ways to praise and worship the Lord. It can be through singing, dancing or drawing. Try to make a worship playlist to play around the house can get the kids excited and active for God. Break down the lyrics, and makeup actions to explain what each verse means.

Here are some great children worship songs we like:
●      Deep Cries out - Bethel Music Kids
●      I Could Sing of Your Love Forever - Cedarmont Kids
●      Father Abraham - Wee Sing
●      You’re Worthy Of My Praise 
●      My Lighthouse - Rend Collective

Check out some Worship Songs that we’ve danced to for our 30 Days of Sonshine!
●      Big House covered by MFBC, PIBC & CPMI
●      Deep Cries Out covered by Kingston-Galloway Summer 2019 Staff
●      Jesus You’re My Superhero covered by MFBC, PIBC & CPMI

For more activities check our Crafts at Home blog post!

Crafts At Home!

By: Nuri Lee, Flemingdon Park | Outreach Worker

It’s difficult being at home all the time with nothing to do. I’ve been finding it really easy to just turn on YouTube in all of my spare time to relax and shut my brain off. But at the end of most days, I still feel drained because of the screen I’m always staring at! Maybe you’re also feeling this way. If you are, I’ve created this list of activities just for you so that you could find creative ways to spend your time without looking at screens all day. These crafts are made with simple materials you can find at home, so go take a look around your house, find your materials, and come back to do some crafts :D

Pop-up Cards / Book
Holidays are coming up soon, and if you like to make homemade cards for your loved ones, you can easily take some extra time to make your card look extra fancy. You can follow this tutorial, adding your own personal touches and pictures -- and if you stick a whole bunch of them together, it can even become a pop-up book!

Rock Painting / Colouring
Rocks are everywhere and already made so unique. Pick up some that you like and get painting! You can paint anything you could ever think of -- a creature you made up, your favourite animal, a character you like from a book, a quote you love, the options are endless. If you don’t have any paint at home, you can try using some crayons or coloured pencils. It’ll take some more time but it’ll be just as fun! Here’s a Harry Potter example my little sister made at home:

Leaf Animals
It’s Autumn season -- my personal favourite season. Look outside your door and see all the different shapes and colours of the leaves that fell off the trees. Find some that you like to use in this craft!

This website shows you how to make cute animals out of the different leaves you might find outside. If you can’t find the perfect shaped leaf, you can always use some safety scissors to cut the shape you want. Then, you can stick all your shapes onto a piece of paper to make an animal, or just a nice design! This can be as simple or as complicated as you’d like :)

Flip Book
If you don’t know what a flip book is, you’re missing out! The link below shares information about how to make your own and a video showing you what they are. If you don’t have a sticky note pad, you can always use regular paper that you cut and staple/tape together -- just make sure the paper you cut ends up being as similar in size as possible. With these, you can make any type of action happen on paper now like it’s a movie itself!

I hope you can find something that catches your attention here, and that you can spend the next while having some fun off-screen :) Stay safe!

The Plans of the Diligent Lead Surely to Abundance - Proverbs 21:5a

By Lincoln Li, Flemingdon Park | Outreach Worker

Take a look at the video that’s linked below:

How to Achieve Your Most Ambitious Goals | Stephen Duneier | TEDxTucson 

The video has a very eye-catching title. Naturally, it draws us in because there are always things we set out to do (big or small) and we want to accomplish them one way or another. Goals. We all have some sense of them. We make them all the time. We want to get into this career, attain a certain amount of wealth or success, look a certain way etc. It could be smaller things like being more on time when meeting up with people. It could be in the form of telling yourself every single New Years’ Eve. You tell yourself, “This year will be different! I’m going to exercise more. I will do a Reading Challenge. I will (fill in the blank)” As you brainstorm that list, you post it on Instagram or Facebook hoping that your friends will see how awesome you are and that they will keep you accountable for them.

But chances are, most people won’t make it through the list. Some might not even get past the first item on that list. With a heavy heart and with shame, I will admit I am that person. 

Why is it like that? Why is it so tough to meet the goals we set for ourselves? Maybe for me, it’s because I am a professional procrastinator. Focusing is hard sometimes. But why do I procrastinate? Maybe it’s because I get easily distracted and sidetracked. There’s a never-ending supply of content from Youtube that is clearly more interesting than exercising more. (Here is one such video).

There’s one more reason and the TED talk sheds a bit of light on this. Maybe it’s because the goal we set for ourselves is too large to tackle and you don’t know where to begin. All right then, time to map it out and break down this goal into small chunks of achievable tasks.

Here’s an example. I have a goal of completing reading the Bible in a year. I found a reading plan that helps me break down the chapters I have to read each day and I can check off the stuff as I go along. Not a bad start. Now it should be smooth sailing as long as I stick to the plan right? Not exactly. Let’s just say some days are easier than others and it’s easy to fall behind due to a number of things like tiredness, motivation, or quantity of text to read. 

The speaker talks about a ‘marginal adjustment’. Something even smaller than that. It’s not about completing what I have to read that day. It’s not even about finishing that one chapter, one sentence, or one word. It’s about making a series of conscious decisions before getting to read that first word. It means making that conscious decision to put down my phone and turn off the computer. Next is then making the conscious decision to pop open that Bible and turn to the page. Now finally, begin with one word. And the next. And the next. If I can only focus for 10 min then that’s fine. I’ll do something else for a couple of minutes and then come back to it for another 10 min. The key is to know what that marginal adjustment is. 

Lastly, thinking of the reason why you want to achieve this goal gives you self- motivation. Why do I want to read the Bible in a year? Because I want to: 

• Seek after God’s truth and promises with my own two eyes 

• Know more about the contents of the Bible 

• Build a solid foundation and a deeper relationship with God

What’s a goal you want to achieve? Why do you want to achieve it? What is a marginal adjustment you can make? It’s not easy at all and you need to put in a conscious effort with those little decisions. But those little decisions add up. One small thing leads to another small thing and that in short, is what we all desire. Progress. I wish you all the best of luck and feel free to share some of the goals you want to achieve!

Activities To Do With Family

By Abigaille Alpay, Kingston-Galloway | Outreach Worker

During our online KIC (Kids In Community)  program at Kingston-Galloway, we made our very own greenhouses with the help of Just Vertical (Click on the link to learn how to make your own). This activity was so simple, yet so much fun! While doing this activity, I realized that there are many activities that can be fun for you and your family. Activities that include the Bible, cooking, planting, imagination and games. Here is a list, as well as resource links to activities that you can do with your family!

Bible Time Activities:

Bible challenges are always fun!

• Challenges (Memory Verse, Bible Trivia, Bible Jeopardy): Our kids love a good challenge! Especially if there’s a prize to be won. 

• Reading or Watching the Bible together: Reading or watching Bible stories is always fun. We’ve been reading through “The Jesus StoryBook Bible” which makes stories easy for individuals of all ages to understand. Here is a link to watch it on Youtube

• Act Out the Bible: Acting out Bible stories help kids understand the stories better!

Food Activities:

• Naan Pizza: In early May, Carmen posted a blog on how to make Pizzas with Naan bread which was a hit with the kids!

• Popsicles: Homemade popsicles may be the best cure to a hot summer's day.

• Rice Krispies: Easy to make but also easy to customize with your favourite sweets. Add chocolate chips, peanut butter, granola, marshmallows and more if you’d like.

• No Bake Chocolate Cookies: Our kids love anything with chocolate and the best part about this recipe is that you don’t need to bake anything!

During summer camp, we made Daniel and Lions from the Bible story out of popsicle sticks.

Craft Activities:

• Fluffy Slime: Slime is a crowd favourite for our kids, that they make slime inside and outside of camp (Sonshine Day Camp). They even bring their homemade slime to camp! 

• Origami: Our kids made origami last summer and they had fun figuring out how to fold a piece of paper. They made different creations and had fun seeing the results

• Toilet Paper Rolls: Toilet paper rolls are very versatile. You can make different animals, trees, crowns, decorations and more!

• Popsicle Stick Crafts: There are many things that you can make with popsicle sticks. You can make puzzles, puppets, houses, even a picture frame!  

Gym/Imagination Play:

On girls day we painted their nails!

• Pillow Fight: This simple game is super fun to play with everyone.

• “The Floor is Lava”: In this game, you pretend the floor is lava. You and your family cannot touch the floor. The only way you can get across the room is by jumping on furniture to get across the room.

• Indoor obstacle courses: Make an obstacle course with pillows, furniture, stuffed animals and other toys. You can either make it super easy or super hard!

• Tea Party: During last year’s Sonshine Day Camp, we had a tea party with our kids. We did each other’s hair, made snacks, played dress up and did each other’s nails (here is a link to some nail art).

• “Camping”: Not outdoor camping but living room camping! Making forts in your living room using blankets, pillows and surrounding furniture is always a fun time! You can even “pack” your bag and “travel” to the campsite with your stuff.