The HCOS Weekly Vol. 2 Edition 8 An Article By Deanna Burmatoff Troubles. Problems. Tribulations. Everyone has gone through trou- bles, and some of you may be go- ing through some right now. You are not alone. You are never alone. Sometimes you may have a friend listening to you and praying for you, or a family member. But even if there is no one physical to talk to, Jesus is always with you. He sees what you're going through, and He knows how much it hurts you. It may feel like the end of the world, but it isn't. Don't give up! Chances are there is some reason behind your going through the Val- ley of the Shadow of Death. When you are in the Pit of Despair, it may feel like you're the only one. But I'm sure there are lots of peo- ple who have gone through some- thing similar. Those people can empathize with you and comfort you, and you can learn from their mistakes. Let's take a look at Psalms. There are many chapters where the psalmist cried out to God to rescue him from his problems. Psalm 120:1 "I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer." Psalm 31:7 "I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul." Psalm 34:6 "In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles." Psalm 34:17-20 17"The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the broken- hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. 19The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. 20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!" Psalm 40:11-13 11"Lord, don't hold back your ten- der mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faith- fulness always protect me. 12 For troubles surround me- too many to count! My sins pile up so high I can't see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage. 13Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me." But sometimes, God doesn't take our problems away. Sometimes we need to go through those situa- tions, so that we will know what it's like, and so we can help others who are going through the same thing. 2 Corinthians 1:4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same com- fort God has given us. Sometimes God wants us to learn a lesson from our trials. Maybe you need to have patience, or love for the people around you who may cause you strife. Maybe God wants you to learn how to manage cer- tain issues now in order to prepare you for a future hardship later on in your life. Whatever the reason is, God knows best. He can see the bigger picture, while we can only see pieces at a time. We can trust that God knows what He's doing, and He won't leave our stories half-finished. Troubles
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The HCOS WeeklyVol. 2 Edition 8
An Article By Deanna Burmatoff
Troubles. Problems. Tribulations. Everyone has gone through trou-bles, and some of you may be go-ing through some right now. You are not alone. You are never alone. Sometimes you may have a friend listening to you and praying for you, or a family member. But even if there is no one physical to talk to, Jesus is always with you. He sees what you're going through, and He knows how much it hurts you. It may feel like the end of the world, but it isn't. Don't give up! Chances are there is some reason behind your going through the Val-ley of the Shadow of Death.
When you are in the Pit of Despair, it may feel like you're the only one. But I'm sure there are lots of peo-ple who have gone through some-thing similar. Those people can empathize with you and comfort you, and you can learn from their mistakes.
Let's take a look at Psalms. There are many chapters where the psalmist cried out to God to rescue him from his problems.
Psalm 120:1
"I took my troubles to the Lord; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer."
Psalm 31:7
"I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul."
Psalm 34:6
"In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles."
Psalm 34:17-20
17"The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
19The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time. 20 For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken!"
Psalm 40:11-13
11"Lord, don't hold back your ten-der mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faith-fulness always protect me. 12 For troubles surround me- too many to count! My sins pile up so high
I can't see my way out. They outnumber the hairs on my head. I have lost all courage.
13Please, Lord, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me."
But sometimes, God doesn't take our problems away. Sometimes we need to go through those situa-tions, so that we will know what it's like, and so we can help others who are going through the same thing.
2 Corinthians 1:4
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same com-fort God has given us.
Sometimes God wants us to learn a lesson from our trials. Maybe you need to have patience, or love for the people around you who may cause you strife. Maybe God wants you to learn how to manage cer-tain issues now in order to prepare you for a future hardship later on in your life.
Whatever the reason is, God knows best. He can see the bigger picture, while we can only see pieces at a time. We can trust that God knows what He's doing, and He won't leave our stories half-finished.
Troubles
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2 Corinthians 4:17-18
"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forev-er! 18 So we don't look at the trou-bles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."
As I was looking through the junk drawer for some stickers, this one address label sheet caught my eye. I looked through the different de-signs, and noticed that some of the stickers have little sayings on them. This quote really stood out to me: "The tests of life are not meant to break you, but to make you." -Norman Vincent Peale. I have no idea who this guy is, but I'm taking this as a message from God! Of all the places to find inspi-ration. Awesome!
"The tests of life are not meant to break you, but to make you." Let's think about that for a moment.
In the Bible, it says that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. He knows our breaking point. He knows that it will make us stronger.
1 Corinthians 10:13
"13The temptations in your life are no different from what others ex-perience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."
I know this verse is talking about temptations, but this can refer to troubles as well. Here's another one:
2 Corinthians 4:8
"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair."
This means that even though it may seem like the end, it really isn't.
I'm sure there are many more places in the Bible that talk about people and their problems. But if I told about each one, we'd be here all night.
I am going to share a bit about Paul though.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7"So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from be-coming proud.
8Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.
10That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and trou-bles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
I really like this last verse. "That's why I take pleasure in my weak-nesses, and in the insults, hard-ships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." "For when I am weak, then I am strong." God doesn't expect us to deal with these problems on our own strength. We most probably
couldn't do it. But that's why Jesus came, to show us the way to the Father. And when Jesus rose again, He gave us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Counselor. We don't have to go through life alone. The Holy Spirit is with you all the time, and wait-ing for you to rely on Him. Give your problems over to God, and trust that He will give you the strength that you need to get through them.
Let's pray. "Dear God, thank You that You are always there with us, through thick and thin, even when it doesn't seem like it. Help us to remember this in our times of trou-ble. Remind us to call on You whenever we feel that we can't make it through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Thank you, Je-sus, that You came down from heaven to show us the way, and thank you that You gave us Your Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. Please give us the strength we need to deal with the problems that we are going through right now. Please use our issues and problems to draw us closer to You, for Your glory. Thank You. In Jesus' name, amen.
(Just as a side note: This topic is just one of many others that have been talked about in a Bible Study Group on Skype. If you liked what you read, and would like to join the next Bible study, send me an email at [email protected], or send me a Skype message at dean-na.burmatoff14. Our meetings are u s u a l l y o n M o n d a y s a n d Thursdays, at 4pm or 7 pm PST. Times can be subject to change. Hope to see some of you there!)
3The HCOS Weekly
Beauty
A Piece of Creative Writing By Emily Pearson
As the endless torrent sea moves ever so rapidly in quick move-ments of freedom and strength, we watch in fascination. You see, the ocean cannot possibly be held down or set straight; no rules nor regulations can keep the rapid waves in their place. As we go on in life, we find ourselves being con-stantly berated and held down. We are told to be ourselves, but the moment we feel comfortable in our own skin, they scold and look down upon us as though we are greatly different. But you see, we were never meant to be a clone of everyone else. Our skin was never meant to be the same color or tex-ture as someone else, nor the size of our bodies or color of our eyes. Why can't we be like the wild rush-ing waters of the Pacific Ocean? Free and wild, no one criticizes the water. It just flows on its own in confidence that is loud as rolling thunder. We stare in the mirror, disgusted by the reflection. But if we were someone different, we still would not be satisfied. No one can measure up to the standards of professional Photoshop; air-brushed skin and caked on make-up. Was it God's will for beauty to be defined by makeup and skinny thighs that have been minimized by computer technology? No.
For beauty is not the shape of your
eyebrows, nor color of your eyes.
Beauty is as quiet and gentle as a sot stirring breeze . . . It is the way our eyes light up when we speak in confidence about things we are passionate about. It is the way we laugh and how unique it sounds. Beauty is the vibrant hue of the sun as it sets, dripping down the darkening sky like watercolors painted by God's hand. Beauty is natural . . . It is the scent of freshly fallen raindrops or budding roses. It is the sound of a baby's first laugh; it is natural. The waves swish back and forth against the shore; we walk across the sandy beach and run our fingers though the golden sand . . .
What if freedom is loving who we are?
Random Facts
An Article By Eva Umana
Random Science Facts:
It takes 8 minutes and 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun's surface to Earth. If you could drive your car straight up you would arrive in space in just over an hour. Cells have tails to move around. Female black widow spiders eat their males ater mating. Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967 - the patient lived for 18 days. Garlic, hydrogen peroxide and cin-namon are good cold remedies.
Random Disney Facts:
101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney cartoon fea-tures with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie. The first animated film to be nomi-nated for an Oscar for best picture was Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991. Disneyland, California, was built in the early 1950s, opening in 1955. Anxious to be on site as much as possible, Walt built an apartment for his family above the 'Fire De-partment' on Main Street. A lamp in the window signaled to staff that he was in residence, and this is now always alight in his honor. Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck, created the dog barks for 101 Dalmatians. While we're on the subject of animal noise, tiger roars were used for the Lion King, as li-ons weren't deemed loud enough. It would tale 9.4 million balloons for Carl's house to float in the sky in Up.
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The Ukrainian
War
An Article By Adley Soames
The Ukrainian war has been going on for some time now, creating a lot of attention. However, most facts about the Ukrainian war are incomplete and confusing, which reflects the very nature of the war. So what exactly is going on in Ukraine? This article is my attempt at answering that question. Please note most of this article is based off of speculation as this is a very complicated and secretive situa-tion.
To understand the situation be-tween Russia and Ukraine, we go back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ater the collapse, war be-gan almost immediately between the countries, disputing over this and that. The countries disputed over Sevastopol, a coastal city lo-cated on the Black Sea. The situa-tion eventually ended with Russia renting Sevastopol from Ukraine. From 1990 until 2000 they engaged in several gas disputes. Ukraine joined a nation group called GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development, which was seen as a direct challenge to Moscow's CIS and Russian Trade Group. These are just a few of the situations causing tension be-tween the nations.
In 2010, a pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich, was elected as leader of Ukraine. President Yanukovich renewed the lease of Sevastopol, which was illegal ac-c o r d i n g t o U k r a i n i a n l a w. Yanukovich's main opposition, Yu-
lia Timoshenko, was jailed on pre-sumably made-up charges. To make matters worse, Yanukovich backed down from an agreement with the European Union, which he had approved a few years earlier.
All these biased decisions, favour-ing Russia over Europe, aggravated protestors to oust President Viktor Yanukovich and take over Kiev, the capitol city of Ukraine. Yanukovich fled to eastern Ukraine, where he has received more support from the Russian population located in the area. Yanukovich was declared "removed from power" however, he refused to resign and many eastern provinces remained loyal to Yanukovich. In Ukraine's state of confusion, they declared Oleksan-dr Turchynov as acting President, who stopped a language prefer-ence bill, which would have fur-thered the tension between Ukrainians and Russians.
In February 2014, Russia began sending unmarked troops and mili-tary equipment into the Ukraine, beginning a stealth invasion. Rus-sia then seized the Ukrainian terri-tory of Crimea, claiming to be un-involved. Vladimir Putin has since admitted involvement in the cap-ture and annexation of Crimea. This began a pro-Russian rebel group known as Donbass, which declared war on Ukraine. Despite Russia denying involvement with Donbass, many sources have ac-
cused Russia of supplying the rebels with weapons and soldiers. In September, a ceasefire was de-clared, which Russia took advan-tage of by repositioning their troops to bring pressure on Mari-upol. Rebels continue to claim they are armed only with equipment captured from Ukrainian forces, however the sheer scale of their ar-maments have strained the credi-bility of the claim.
Currently, there are over 7,000 Rus-sian troops within Ukraine and ap-proximately 45,000 Russian troops posted just outside of Ukraine. There have been convoys of un-marked tanks and weapons spot-ted within Ukraine and trucks car-rying dead Russian soldiers spot-ted leaving. Russia continues to claim minimal involvement in the Ukrainian war, while they quietly take over and impose a vast army along the border. The situation is quickly growing and will likely re-sult in Russia completely annexing Ukraine. The best we can do to help the situation is give it as much attention as possible, which will prevent Russia from taking the country unnoticed.
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HCOS NING Photo
Contest Results
By Jennica Wlodarczyk
As most of you NING-dwellers know, the end of 2014 held an ex-citing event for us on the HCOS so-cial site. The results for the So You Think You Can Photograph contest came in, and I'm excited to an-nounce the contest's winners. In f i r s t p l a ce w i t h h e r e n t r y,
"Harvest", was Lael Louw! She won a $40 Amazon git card. In second place was Kiara Miekle with "Pic-ture #2". She received a $30 Ama-zon git card. "Fall Harvest" by Rachel Scuka was in third place, winning a $25 Amazon git card. And finally, in fourth place with an Amazon git card prize of $20, was Samara Paine with her entry, "An Autumn Walk". We at the HCOS Weekly would like to congratulate all of the winners, as well as the
runner-ups as follows:
"Falling Leaf" by Lael Louw "Train Bridge" by Ethan Johnson "Don't Leaf, I've Fallen!" by Jubilee Chiu
It was super fun to go through all of the contestants' photos this year to vote, comment, and admire. Ev-eryone did an amazing job, and we can't wait to see what talent arises next!
Book Review: The
Hobbit
By Bryce
Bilbo Baggins was a young hobbit who was happy to stay home in his comfy hobbit house, but when Gandalf the great wizard comes along with a group of homeless dwarves, Bilbo gets sucked into a great adventure. Battling giant spi-ders, goblins, and other fierce crea-tures, Bilbo learns to conquer his fears. It is then up to Bilbo alone to talk to the great dragon Smaug and comfort him. Read this book to find out what happens in this perilous and exciting adventure!
Harvest by Lael Louw - 1st Place Winner
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Fall Harvest by Rachel Scuka - 3rd Place
Photo #2 by Kiara Meikle - 2nd Place
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An Autumn Walk by Samara Paine - 4th Place
Falling Fall by Lael Louw - Notable Runner-Up
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Train Bridge by Ethan Johnson - Notable Runner-Up
Don't Leaf, I've Fallen! by Jubilee Chiu - Notable Runner-Up
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An Article By Jennica Wlodarczyk
To many of you readers and forum-dwellers, Jesse Ongkili is a name you might hear and go, "Oh yeah, that's the orange grub guy! I talked with him once; pretty cool person." Perhaps you've even seen some of his music videos or cover performances on YouTube. If you enjoy his work, (or if even if you've never seen his videos before) I would highly advise you to check out a series on his channel, og-wardproductions, called "Frag-ments on Fridays". Not only is this series humorous and inspiring, but the way that Jesse ties in Biblical lessons and Christ-centred stories is really a work of art.
I can say from personal experience that Jesse loves to discuss a wide variety of topics. You can always
reach him over the HCOS NING, Moodle, or his YouTube channel it-self to comment or ask questions about his videos.
Below is a link to the full playlist of all 21 Fragments on Fridays videos to date. Thanks for taking the time to check this out; I truly hope something in these videos will in-spire you and make you think out-side of the box.
If any of you fabulous readers are i n t e r e s t e d i n g e t t i n g y o u r drawings, poems, stories, articles, essays, photographs, or other me-dia seen by some teachers and stu-dents of HCOS, the HCOS Weekly is a great place to start! Feel free to contact us at any time either on Moodle, the HCOS NING, or over email [email protected].
We hope to hear from you soon, and wish you the best in this new year. Enjoy the rest of the edition!- The HCOS Weekly Team
Fragments on Fridays
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Eagle Feather - By Deanna Burmatoff Photo taken by Deanna Burmatoff, Grade 11
