May 21st is passed and were still here now what

Well all the hype has passed and we are still here.  Not that I doubted we would all be here.  The point remains that only He knows when the end of days will happen. Only He will determine that day not mankind.  A positive outcome of this hype I believe is that it got people talking.  I had people asking me questions about biblical terms such as Tribulation, AntiChrist and Rapture.  Now I am not an expert on The Book but I have read it and have a personal relationship with the author.  These opportunities allowed me the chance to share The Gospel with those who might not have otherwise cared to hear about it.  It gave me a chance to disciple others.  I hope that some of the seeds I planted will take root and grow and maybe just maybe bear some spiritual fruit.

With this day passing it also poses another choice we have.  With the thought of the world coming to an end did you not wonder what more you could have done.  Did you not regret walking His walk?  Did you not wonder if you could have been a better Christian?  Nows your chance.  Take it as a lesson that the next time might not be in the too distant future.  Be Saved.  Turn to Christ and open your heart to him.  Your life will get better, you will feel better, you will love with all your heart and you will stop existing and you will start living.

I have heard a saying that for believer’s life on earth is the closest to hell we will ever get and for non believers Life on earth is the closest to heaven they will ever get.  You have a choice, it’s up to you, Make the right choice.

Walk with me

Jason

Are you the one I wrote this for

This morning as I was sitting at my computer I felt this sense of urgency, I felt The Lord speaking to me as I was sitting here and it was extremely clear what he was saying to me and someone reading this needs to hear this.  I am not sure who you are, where you are but I believe this message will reach you.

You suffered a loss this weekend and you are struggling with it,  you are feeling extremely saddened and you are in a dark place right now.  You are isolating yourself and you are contemplating of doing something really permanent to ease your pain.  At one point in your life you had a relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but somewhere along the way you became separated from Him.  He is calling you home, He wants a relationship with you and He is knocking at your door.

You are feeling tempted at returning to a former addiction to ease your pain.  Don’t do it.  It will only numb the pain temporarily and when the numbing is gone the pain will return ten fold.  That is not the answer, He is the answer.  The answer lies within Him.  Reach out to him his hand is extended and he is waiting to take your pain.  He paid the ultimate price for all of us once before and He is willing, able and waiting to bear this cross for you as well.

Reach out to family, friends open your heart to them and to Him.  Call me or message me.  I know your out there and I know your reading this.  Time is of the essence and I am here waiting to hear from you.  Don’t go through this alone.  Reach out and come on this walk with me.

If you read this and you know the person I am talking about or even if it sounds remotely familiar that it maybe them.  Please forward it to them.  Thanks for reading.

God Bless

Jason

The Battle Within

I am not even sure why I chose this title.  It’s the first thing that came to mind.  When I think of the inner struggles I face.  My battles with addictions,  my struggles with relationships, my struggle with life in general.  I have no one to blame for my situation but myself.  I have come to realise that I am not going to get out of this on my own.  I need help.  That help can only come from God.

The problem is that I find myself  immediately wanting to blame Him when things go wrong in my life.  It is not His fault.  The problems start to arise when I turn away from Him and get disconnected from Him that is when the enemy gets a hold of me and begins to do his work and inflict damage and pain in my life.  I realise that I need God more than he needs me.  He is always accepting of me upon my return.  Now I am not saying that I have totally abandoned my faith at any point in time, what I am saying is that I have gotten complacent at times as written in my blog seasons of faith.  Complacency is the home of the enemy.  I really need to stop visiting this place.

I am accountable to God but I want to be accountable to all of you as well.  My addiction that I suffer from is Gambling and it is a constant battle that I endure.  I am fighting it every single day.  I have relapsed in the past and I need His help and yours to hold me accountable.  I need to get back on a routine, I need to continue to be in The Word and attend bible studies and I definitely need to get back the gym that was my sanctuary at times.

I guess what I am writing about today are my demons, my battle within did kinda make sense for the title.

So on my journey into recovery from all my battles and my addictions, I need you to hold me accountable and walk with me on this one.

Jason

My Brother

I am going to continue my series on people who have impacted my life.  My brother and I have had a falling out since about January and have spoken once since then.  The problem is, we are way too much alike.  We are stubborn and we dig our feet in and will not back down.  In all honesty I cannot even remember what caused the disagreement, I am certain that I was at fault.  However with that being said, I ask him for forgiveness and am hoping to move forward in our relationship.

Our relationship with our brothers is raised early in Genesis.

Genesis 4:9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

Although my brother is younger than me,  I feel that he is far more accomplished than me when it comes to career, financially, emotionally and in respect to relationships.  I believe there is a lot I can learn from him.  Which is why I believe the need to reconcile is of the utmost importance.  I could die tomorrow, something could happen to him.  Life is way to short.  My brother has been with me through thick and thin.  He was the one who made the call that saved my life last August.  He was the one who stood by me as I stood alone.  He was the one who believed in me when no one else did.  He was my brother and allowed me to lean on him.

I hope this blog finds him.  I hope he reads it and contacts me.  I miss my brother.  Over five months of not speaking to each other except for five minutes or so last week has taken its toll on me.

I Love you Brother

Find it in your heart to walk with me

Jason

Seasons of Faith

Seasons of Faith

When I first came to Christ last August when I was saved.  I was riding high.  Everything was about Jesus nothing was knocking me off the Jesus train.  I was reading my bible, I was going to two different bible studies, attending a weekly prayer meeting and then my other free time was spent at the church office and when I wasnt there I was reading my bible.  Nothing was knocking me off the Jesus train.  Man was I in for a wake up call.

Months went by and it started when I returned to work.  I had to start missing church every second Saturday and then I had to start missing Bible studies, spending less time at the office, less time in fellowship and then eventually less time doing my daily devotionals.  The downward spiral had started.  The further away I moved from Jesus the more the spiral grew.  I was spinning out of control.  I wasnt sure what was happening.

I spoke to Andy about this and he informed me about Seasons and how we all go through them.  The main thing was that i get back on track.  I started making time in my day for Him.  I am not back at the point where I was in August but I am getting there.  I am pacing myself this is a marathon not a sprint.  I need to pace myself  to go the distance.  I need to get back to this my Blog, I need to focus on what is important in life.  I need to get back to doing His work and my life will work itself out as a direct consequence.  You will be hearing more from me in the weeks to come.

To Linda Owen thanks for you message about encouragement to write again, it meant a lot.

Thanks for still walking with me

Jason

My Friend Duck

In this upcoming series of Blogs I am going to start profiling my relationships with people who have had an impact on my life, who have been there with me through thick and thin.  Some are new friends, some are old friends, some are friends I have not seen in a long time.  This is the story of my friend Duck.

I am 36 years old, and I have lived a life full of ups and downs and in’s and out’s and everything in between, finally I am getting to a place where I want to be.  The Journey itself has been interesting, heart breaking, demoralizing (at times), and at some points down right hopeless.  Since 1994 my friend Ron “Duck” McMillan has been there.

I met Duck in late 1994 at Algonquin College Pembroke Campus.  I believe it was probably outside the side entrance having a smoke.  When you first meet Duck it can be intimidating standing at about 6 feet tall covered in Tattoo’s, shaved head with a tattoo on his skull, long goatee, and wearing Doc Martins and other skinhead attire.  I am not sure what got me to start a conversation with this guy, but I am certainly happy that I did.  Duck told me that he was a skinhead, but he clarified for me that a skinhead, a true skinhead was not a racist person, that it was the neo nazi skinheads that gave all other “skins” a bad name.  Duck was a caring loving individual and from that point I really learned not to judge a book by its cover.

Duck and I hung out that entire semester and the ensuing summer, we had each others backs.  We supported each other and probably at some points kept each other out of some trouble and at times got each other in trouble.  Duck wasn’t the friend that would bail you out of jail, he would be the friend sitting next to you in the cell.  September of 2005 I moved to North Bay but Duck and I kept in touch.  We would see each other when I returned to Pembroke on long weekends and Christmas break and then summers.

We did not see each other much from late 97 to 01 however in 2002 we got back in touch and I was now living in Ottawa and Duck was working as a roofer in Ottawa and was travelling home to Pembroke on weekends.  Duck needed a place to stay and I had an empty bedroom.  Duck stayed with me for most of that year, then we had Bailey and Duck moved into the basement.  During that time I was at one of my peeks and Duck was going through a low he was battling some demons,  I was going to be a dad had a great job and in a relationship with an amazing woman (Bailey’s Mom).  I guided Duck during that time and tried to help him by giving him a place to stay and being a friend to him and there were improvements in both of our lives because of it.  In August of 2002 Duck moved on and we kept in touch on and off.

Fast forward to late 2009 I find out Duck is living in London travelling doing roofing work things are the rise for him as things are heading downhill for me and fast.   I am in a relationship that is ending, I have a 7-year-old from a previous relationship and I have baby in the relationship that I am in that is ending.  Duck and I talk on the phone quite a bit during this time and he consoles me, he becomes my rock at this point.  The only person with whom I can seemingly talk to.  The one person whom I can relate to.  Ducks relationship with the Mother of his children in Pembroke had ended and he was in London now.  He could relate.

In August 2010 it all came to a climax for me read My Testimony duck was there.  I needed out of Ottawa I needed to regroup, He called me and sent me gas money to drive down to London and off I went.  Broke and Broken I headed down the 401 not really knowing what I was going to do when I got there.  I got there and Duck greeted me with a great big hug.  He and his wife Amee had me stay with him for two weeks, during the day I would shadow duck on the job at his roofing company and just spent time in fellowship with him.  I met a lot of his friends during that time and was able to get my life balanced away from the chaos that was happening back in Ottawa.

I knew Duck was a Mormon, throughout his life I would say he was a lukewarm Mormon but at this point in his life, he was committed to it.  He would attend service on Sunday and have the elders over during the week.  At this point in my life I am new Christian, reading my bible daily and going to service regularly.  Needless to say our spiritual beliefs are quite different and some interesting conversations arose around these topics.  You see in the past neither of us was really into our faith so the topic never really came up or mattered.  Now it did.  However our friendship was able to overcome this.  Duck knew that he would not be converting me to Mormonism and I knew that I would not be converting him to Christianity…yet .  Our doctrines are not on the same page, but our friendship is.

I left London in mid September with a friendship renewed.  You see although not related by blood, Duck was and always will be my brother.  He was there for me that Summer,  just as years earlier I had been there for him.  We both have this understanding that no matter how long has passed, we are both just a phone call away.   Everyone is life needs that type of friend their very own “Duck”.  As for Duck he will never call me Jason, I am affectionately known as “Moose”.

So to my brother and friend Duck may we always be in each others lives

“A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Proverbs 18:24 New International Version

Love you Brother, Thanks for taking this “walkwithme” and lifting me up when I was down

“Moose”

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today my parents Carl and Sandra Mousseau celebrate 38 years of marriage. I ponder on that and think about it and imagine how amazing and incredible that is. I remember my parents telling me something about marriage if you want a marriage to work you have to “work at it”. I am certain they have had their shares of trials and tribulations during their marriage, however they continued to work at it and that has got them to today. My parents are each other’s “best friend”, which is important in making a marriage work. Your spouse I believe has to be your best friend, not your only friend but definitely your best friend, otherwise your sharing your most intimate thoughts, dreams, aspirations, hopes and failures with someone else rather than your spouse. If your spouse is your best friend as in the case of my parents then you have the best of both worlds.

What is wrong with Today’s generation 50 percent of Canadian Marriages will end in divorce before reaching the 30th anniversary. What are we as a generation doing wrong?. What can we learn from our parents generation? Obviously a lot. We can learn not to quit. Remember the saying our parents used to tell us “When the going gets tough the tough gets going”. I do not buy the argument that people from our parents generation just “stayed in bad relationships”, I believe that if there was a problem in the relationship they fixed it instead of quitting on it. I think as a generation we could learn a lot about marriage and relationships from our parents generation. They made it work, or rather they “worked at it”.

I am part of this generation of failed relationships and failed marriages. I did not “work at it”. I believed that it should simply should work. The fact is the real work begins after the “I do’s” have been said and continues on “till death do us part”. I think society in general has a “nix it don’t fix it” approach when it comes to marriage. It is almost a case of serial monogamy where people stay in a relationship for a few years and then when that relationship reaches a point of needing to be worked on, then they bail out and start something fresh. I for one do not want this type of life. I want someone to grow old with and share memories with and build new memories that we can reflect on in our twilight years together. I am hopeful that I can share those memories with swhe we grow old together.

So as my parents move on towards their next 38 years together and in their old age (there not there yet) reflect back upon their memories together, times shared, experiences had, they will be remembering times they had together. As they approach those years and look back they will have those memories built together, common memories. For those of this generation who choose to continue to move on from relationship to relationship to relationship, ponder this thought for a moment. If you do not have that long-term relationship, that long-term marriage what memories are you going to have to share?

I for one believe that my parents got it right. Sometimes the old way is the right way. If it’s not broken why fix it? Mom and Dad thanks for being an inspiration and a shining example of what a marriage is and should be. I love you both so much and am in awe of the wonderful marriage that you have. Happy Anniversary.

Jason