This Is Good...

It all started with a visit to the bathroom... and I didn't even have to go! Okay; hi folks; I know that probably isn't what you expected for a start of my first little ditty in two years but it's what you get. Deal with it. Just like how you all have been waiting for me to return to the blogosphere; I have been living in a season of waiting, and more waiting, followed by more waiting, some patience, and at long last, still waiting. I arrived home from a trip to the Holy Land two weeks ago and life has been annoyingly not the same ever since. By the Holy Land; I mean Redding, California. A place like no other. A town where the presence of the Lord is so evident you can't help but feel like you've seen a glimpse of heaven. Yes there is apparent hurt and homelessness and poverty; but it is beautifully contrasted by a group of people gathering to pray in coffee shops; people willingly stopping you on the street to give you a word from the Lord. It's dusted ...

Hello friendly friends, I have returned to my humble Rockridge Road abode (yes I meant for that to rhyme) just over 2 weeks ago and am feeling a little nostalgic for the days of old.  Even if camp life drove me mental from time to time; the easy mundane bubble was nice.  It was safe and warm and I didn't have to think about making food or doing laundry (thanks Debbie!)  Now I feel like I've been thrust forth into this vast expanse of adulthood once again and all I want is to crawl back into my rock-hard sleeping-bag-covered mattress of room 3-one-one and sleep until I'm awoken by Q-Rock at precisely 8 a.m. every morning. But alas; that cannot be and it is time to move on.  Which is easier said that done.  I have been tirelessly looking for work and am feeling a little discouraged.  But light is on the horizon and I know the Lord knows what he's doing. A song hit me really hard the other day and I kind of lost it (quelle surprise I know)  the lyr...

Scratch another week off the roster for we are halfway there. (WHOA LIVING ON A PRAYER!) But for reals; my mind is blown at how fast this summer is going by.  SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED; both at Camp Q and in my life at home that I legitimately have not processed any of it.  I feel a bit like I'm on auto pilot. Surprise surprise I'm starting to find myself getting really attached to the darlings around me.  I'm really not looking forward to the day that is barreling towards us when we all have to bid adieu.  A few have already departed back to their homelands and my heart is so ill-prepared for the rest to go. The Lord is constantly reminding me of his unending love; not only through people that constantly encourage and lift me up but also in the daily reminders that I am doing the same.  I'm blown away by how many people confide in me on a daily basis.  It's the hugest compliment to know that A) they come to me for advice and B) they actually take it and p...

Well we are officially done our second week of camp and what a whirlwind it has been.  I'm not going to lie that it doesn't exaclty feel like camp for me.  Maybe it's that I'm in the office and not fully connecting with the kids in a typical camp fashion.  But I'm enjoying myself for the most part nonetheless. My goal this summer is to connect with one camper a week on some sort of extra special level.  So far I'm succeeding. During junior high one; I was on stage singing in Q-Town and there was this girl right up front.  She was wearing a t-shirt that said "Ya'll need Jesus" and I was like I NEED TO KNOW THIS CHILD! She was dancing away and singing her heart out and it was just so lovely.  I sneakily asked her cabin counsellor what her name was and decided to write her a letter for mail time the next day.  I just wrote how much she encouraged me with her free worship and her bright smile.  She then found me later in the week and said how muc...

Well hello there Blogosphere! It's been what; almost 2 years? Man oh man do we have a heap to catch up on. The hair is short again; the tattoo count has climbed to 9 and I, Amy Pickard, am working at Camp Qwanoes. *Insert record scratch/skip noise here* Hold the phone! I know what you're thinking; TRAITOR! But nothing you can come up with I haven't already thought myself.  Needless to say; I'm here. And I have no clue why. Okay maybe I have a slight clue; but you get where I'm going here. To catch you up on a few things; back in May 2015, I was working away at DunVMC as a MOA; living life; being me; yadda yadda. Meg and I attended a Bethel concert and I felt compelled to apply for Bethel spiritual ministry school. So  I did. And lo and behold; I actually got in. To top that; I got accepted for the worship stream too. So that was pretty major. Contrary to me; the Lord had other plans; and as many of you know, I didn't go. But, I did end up going back to R...

I know, I know, blast from the past right? But I felt like today was a momentous occasion worthy of blogging up. So; here goes! When people tell me that I act like a toddler I tell them it's because I'm really only 3 years old.  You see, 3 years ago I stood in front of roughly 150 teenagers, 50 or so staff, and a few cherished family and friends;  at my second home Camp Imadene; and said "Yes" to 2 very important questions: Is Jesus your Lord and Savior, and do you want to follow him for the rest of your life.  After an ecstatic YUP! I grabbed on tight to the two lovely people on either side of me and went under the lovely Mesachie Lake water and arose a new being. So since I've experienced this "new birth" I am only 3 years of age. Hence the toddler stage joke. I read a quote once that said something along the lines of   “Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different...” Good Ol C.S. Lewis, ...

Well what do we have here?  I know, I know, I've been completely out of the blogosphere for a while now, but, alas, I have something to share and therefore, This is Good is revived yet again. I was able to cabinlead this past week at my favorite place, Camp Imadene, and along with that amazing experience, I was also asked to speak in chapel! OH SNAP KIDDIES! Yes, I, Amy Pickard, speech impediment and leaky eyes in tow, but I did it. And I didn't completely suck. The week was amazing as I knew it would be. I expected God to show up, and he did, but never in the ways I expect him to.  My girls were fantastic, beautiful, caring, HILARIOUS, but lacking in conversational skills. Cabin time was verging on painful. I would ask the required questions, along with my own, and nothing. Crickets. This was really trying for me as we all know I love myself a good chat, but it was also a test to get back to basics. God was showing me that I didn't need to try so hard. All I was being ...

Wow. So  I haven't done this is a very, very long time.  It's kind of surreal being on here, feels like such a long lifetime ago that this was the biggest part of my life.  Sad but true. I was reading through 1 John the other night and a couple verses really struck me and I thought, I'm going to write a blog about these. Thus, I came crawling back to ol' faithful here to share a few choice words with you. I'm a little rusty, so bear with me :) "If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything" 1 John 3:19 Now I had to look up the definition of " condemn " to fully grasp what this meant, the second definition states that this means to s entence someone to a particular punishment, especially death.  Now as per usual little ol' Amy here has been having her heart toyed with a bit as of late and I kind of related it to this verse and got a lot of hope from it as well. Can any of you rela...

Hello dear friends, what a weekend I have had! First off it was amazing to spend 4 whole days in Victoria. I seriously love that city so much and feel like I need to be there, so living in an apartment with a good friend was a good taste of what is hopefully to come. I was in Victoria to attend the Adore Conference. Life changing  Seriously. The speakers, the worship, the people. God is so present within that church and you can't help but feel overwhelmed by it all. Needless to say I cried, I know, shocker. Saturday night was when I first lost it. After a ridiculously amazing sermon from Joyce Rees (new woman crush!) I apparently was so blown away I didn't even write notes, I just remember that I was crying continually for a long time. The closing of her sermon was about the marginalized, focusing on Aboriginals. This hit home because I see this on a daily basis. Growing up in Duncan I was immersed in Native culture from Kindergarten onward  My first ...

Hello blogosphere, so I realize it has been EONS since I posted anything, but that is because the good Lord has been working away at me. Or should I say chipping away..... Over the past few months I worked diligently as a servant in the kitchen at camp, enjoyed some amazing experiences with my best friend who returned home from an amazing trip, lost my other best friend to the same dang country (stupid Australia! :P ) and returned back to camp to cabin lead 24 amazing girls, along with a few other campers I took under my wing. The first week of camp I was feeling really apathetic to everything.  I am usually the most emotional person ever, I cry every chapel, I cry at every testimony, but this week, nothing.  My heart was hard and it took a superbly overwhelming group of 13 fourteen year old girls to break it. Lives were changed in that cabin and I know that God was using me to do his work, but I still felt a little disappointed in myself. It took until Wednesday for thi...

I was listening to my ipod as I walked home from work today and as Leeland's song "I can see your love" played in my ears I realized that the band incorporated lyrics from one of my favourite hymns.  'The Love of God" is an old time favorite and gets me going every time.  I especially love the third verse: Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky. I just googled these lyrics and found out something cool,  although this hymn is written by Frederick M. Lehman, this well known verse was found penciled on the wall of a narrow room in an insane asylum by a man said to have been demented. The profound lines were discovered when they laid him in his coffin. I just think that is so cool. Nonetheless you never know what might...

Yesterday was such a roller coaster my friends! I started out at my good mate's house jamming out on our bud's new electric guitar (such a beaut!) for it was his 19th birthday.  But at the same moment we were saying goodbye to our other pal Sam for 4 months as he is leaving on a fishing boat.  All the boys got together and I was the odd woman out for  a while (as per usual) but we had good times, ate some burgs in the sunshine, and all around tried to forget that we were being abandoned by our favourite hippie yet again. The hours passed and all us kiddies bid him a fond farewell, hugs and high fives all around we knew that we about to embark on a most excellent adventure and who are we to stop him? I then made my way to Ultimate Monday!  It was such a money day yesterday, no wind, super nice out, bit of overcast so you don't burn to a crisp, needless to say I was stoked as!  The teams were so even we played til 10-8 in the first game.  Our fearless l...

As I was sitting in the Mocha House yesterday, enjoying my tea and Kleinburg bar (FAVOURITE) I turned my head towards the doorway and was greeted with an amazing sight.  Standing there, looking all darling, was one of my campers whom I haven't seen since last summer.  I immediately got up and gave her the biggest hug ever.  It was such a God- blessed moment and I feel so good that I got to see her.  We caught up on life and were just in awe of this random run in, especially in such a random place. Nevertheless, this is good. Much love and all the little moments -- A

So last night was going to be monumental. I was supposed to go see Del  Barber (previously mentioned before on here as my true love) at the DGS but alas I didn't end up going SADFACE! But as I sat at home, watching the live stream, I got a text from some mates to come have a brew or two down at the local watering hole.  So I gussied myself up, put on my lucky heels, and made my way downtown. After some laughs and some HILARIOUS sing-alongs with the bartender we decided to head our separate ways and go home.  As we exited the pub I hear "Out of all the gin joints, in all the world..." I turn to see an EXTREMELY long lost mate of mine whom I haven't seen since 12th grade!  Long story short, his brother and I were really, really close and he ended up dying from complications from a brain hemorrhage the summer before grade 12 and I hadn't seen any of his family since the funereal.  Needless to say there were tears and laughs and giant hugs all around...

"She’s the girl that has a few best friends & doesn’t need anyone, the girl that laughs the hardest at her own jokes.  The girl that expects way too much.  Doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and is nice to everyone.  She’s the girl that will hang up on you, but then call you right back & say sorry.  The kinda girl that will put all her trust in you until you give her a reason not to.  She’s the girl who will never leave your side when you need her, the girl who will go out of her way to cheer you up.  She’s the girl who never sleeps without her teddy bear by her side, she’s the girl who says she isn’t ticklish, but really is.  She’s the girl who will not give up on you if she really believes in you.  She believes in loving somebody forever."

Well Folks, I'm back. I realized after writing that last post that I actually really enjoy writing for the sake of writing (shocker!) So I think I may just have to continue on with these so called ramblings but if you got anything from the last post, I think things are heading in a different direction. Hang on for the ride to see where we end up. Nevertheless, there is a a This is Good moment to report upon. I was at work Yesterday, about to sign in, when I looked at the debit machine and noticed someone forgot to take their withdrawn funds.  I quickly swiped my finger, snagged the moula, and brought it to Customer Service.  My supervisor wrote my name on it in case the person wanted to give me a reward, "pfft ya right" I thought. About an hour later my phone rings at my checkout and it is my supervisor saying that the lady came in to claim the money, yey good right? Then she said to turn around, the lady waved and mouthed Thank You as my supervisor infor...

... we're just getting closer to the homeland. Hello my people!  I know it's been forever and my oh my has a LOT happened in these past months.  Here are some "this is good" moments that come to mind: I chopped off all my hair. SO GOOD. I went to this RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING music festival called PASSION where I got to witness Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfil, and David Crowder worship their hearts out along with 10,000 fellow Christians aged 18 - 25. My mind was blown, I just started crying at the second song as I was overwhelmed by the Lord's presence in that arena.  Such a good weekend. I met the love of my life, he moved away, and is now visiting for the weekend AND will be attending camp with me. FANTASY MUCH! Ha but all is good, we are good mates and we will see what happens! On another "love" note I was kind of seeing this guy and we were in the "dating but not dating" zone where we had to decide if we were going to take it to ...

"Excuse me, Miss?" *Pulls out headphones* "Yes?" "Can I just say you have a really pretty face." "Oh, thank you." "Are you a theater major?" "No, why?" "Cause you're singing show tunes , rather loudly I might add, while wearing an all black outfit, and bright lipstick. Plus you're eating a bag of raw veggies. It was just an assumption." I love my life.

As I sit here at the Duncan Garage, my stomach filled to the brim with good eats, I feel like it is time to fill you all in on the great weekend I just had. Saturday I embarked to Victoria with my dear Momma for some lady bonding time and just to get out of the house. We had lots of fun and ended our great day with seeing the one and only "Lorax." I seriously loved this movie, I will admit the musical numbers were rather cheesy but it was nice and heart-warming for sure. "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Sunday we acted like heathens and instead of going to church we slept in for the time change m ade us a tad overtired. Fast forward to Sunday evening where I got the awesome opportunity to stare at a beautiful ginger man for 3 hours. Not just any ginger man I may add, but the one and only Aaron Gillespie. He, along with Parachute Band, were playing a concert FOR FREE at Glad Tidings church and I co...

As we grow up we learn that the one person that was never supposed to let us down probably will. You'll have your heart broken. You'll break other's hearts. You'll fight with your best friend, or, maybe even fall in love with them and, you'll forget that time is flying by. Life comes with no guarantees. No timeouts. No second chances. You just have to live your life to the fullest. Tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off. Speak out. Be sincere and say with conviction. And never forget where you came from. Because. when you do, it's a long road home. -- "1990" by LIFERUINER