Example of my Academic Writing

Essay for the Holy Spirit and the Church Final Exam

The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and Jesus in order to be with the church and keep it together. The Spirit is God with the individual and God with the New Covenant people. Through the Holy Spirit, some of the New Covenant promises are fulfilled during a believer’s earthly life. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit is God’s seal of salvation on the believer guaranteeing that they will experience the New Covenant fulfilled when Jesus comes back. 

The Holy Spirit works in the pre-Christian heart. The Spirit prepares the person for Jesus and the Father to reside in their heart through the Spirit, and the person to have a relationship with God. This is what happened at Pentecost: through the Spirit, the Father and Jesus could be with their people and take possession of the church despite being in heaven and the people could experience the presence of God as Trinity. Through the Spirit’s ministry people are brought into the New Covenant because He is the one that causes re-birth. During a believer’s lifetime the Holy Spirit sanctifies them and ensures that they grow in Christ. 

The Holy Spirit is who enables a person to have communion with the Triune God because He is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit does this in many ways such as through the reading of the written Word, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. The Spirit also enables the individual and the church to persevere in the faith. Without Him there would be no Christian faith and no church because the followers of Christ would never have grown beyond themselves or endured the centuries.

The Holy Spirit is the one who drives the mission of the church. The mission of the church, as described in Matthew 28:18-20, is to make disciples and teach those disciples what Jesus taught. Many people answer the call and go across oceans and cultures in order to bring the Gospel to the nations. These missionaries face many hardships, such as rejection, persecution, and culture shock in order to fulfill the church’s mission. For many, the Holy Spirit is the only reason why they entered into the mission field. From calling Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:2 to sending missionaries to the Middle East, the Holy Spirit drives them forward and continues to call people in the church to go and preach the Word to people who have never heard it before.

Finally, the Spirit helps to connect spiritual realities with contemporary realities. The church can seem like it is anything but what it is supposed to be on a bad day. It can be quarrelsome, arrogant, intolerant and closed minded, hypocritical, and a big waste of time. Further, it seems to do a good job of disobeying the Bible it claims to base its standards on. As it divides into hundreds and hundreds of denominations, it seems that it is destined to fall apart.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit will keep that from happening.

 The Holy Spirit that brings understanding into what the church truly is. In spite of outwardly sinful behavior, the church is holy because it is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Despite being divided, Christians are still a part of the people of God, the church of Christ and the fellowship of the Spirit. Only through the Spirit can an individual remain active within the Christian faith and maintain these things in balance and attempt to help the church maintain its image and mandate, despite humanity’s failings. 

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and of Christ. Through Him, God’s people maintain an intimate relationship with God and participate in the New Covenant. The Spirit brings people into communion with Christ and enables them to fulfill the mission He gave His people. Without the Spirit, the church would have closed its doors long ago. Therefore, the Spirit should worshiped  and praise because He is God and He has directly endured two thousand years of blessing and heartache as He guides, teaches, and comforts God’s people toward the consummation of history at return of Jesus Christ, and beyond.

Carivibe 2012 Review

There is no doubt that Canada is a multicultural country and it celebrates its multiculturalism in many ways. In the nation's capital, Ottawa, Carivibe is one of the ways it is celebrated. In its third year running, Carivibe celebrates Ottawa's Caribbean people through various local Caribbean artists, Caribbean food and the selling of many Caribbean souvenirs, such as flags and CDs. When I attended the festival today, I got to breathe in some of my heritage, as my dad is from Dominica.

Positive Aspects of the Festival:
The festival drew in many people who are from the Caribbean Islands from the Dominican Republic/Haiti to Barbados.  It gives the people a chance to mingle and celebrate their culture together. Many non-Caribbean citizens also made the journey towards Petry Island in Orleans, an Ottawa community, to dance to the music and get a taste of Caribbean life. So, the bringing of people from all cultures not only celebrated the Caribbean but showed how Canada is a country that is welcoming to all people.

What was provided at the festival was good. They had many Caribbean artists that knew how to get the audience dancing. They offered Caribbean food that wasn't shy to be a bit a spicy but not too spicy so that many people unfamiliar with it would be turned away. And of course, they also had a station selling traditional Canadian food, like poutine and hot dogs. I think it was good because I'm sure some people there might be used to Caribbean food, and may like to have some Canadian/Western food for a change. Finally, they had booths that sold various jewelry and Caribbean flags.

So, it was an overall a good presentation and celebration of Caribbean culture and its community in Canada's capital. 

Negative Aspects of the Festival:
 The disorganization of the festival was a huge draw back, especially when it came to parking. There was a city bus rented to be a shuttle between the nearest Park and Ride and the festival on Petry Island. There was no big field for everyone to park their cars, in fact there was no place near the area for people to park their cars, and the park and ride was small to say the least.  So for next year, definitely have a better place for people to park their cars, like a big parking lot plus a park and ride, and have more than one shuttle bus.

The second thing is the rules. First, if you left the festival you had to lose your bracelet and then pay to get back in. This is a problem regarding my final problem, there was no place for people to smoke. This is not the fact that I smoke, but some of the people I was there with did and the festival didn't really cater to them. The place was non-smoking, and if someone wanted to smoke they'd have to leave and then pay to get back in. Not to mention the security didn't even bother enforcing that rule. One officer would talk to one guy then completely ignore the others who were smoking in the same area. What's the point in having a rule that you don't enforce?

Conclusion:
Overall, it was a very good festival. It just needs to re-evaluate how it is organized and hire security that will enforce the rules. 

Help Me to Stand- A Poetical Prayer

Father, help me to stand
Remind me that I am firmly in your hand
In spite of this trial
A trial that seems so vile

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death1
I shall come to you for rest
This trial is unavoidable
But You, Lord, are faithful

Even though fog clouds my vision
You are still near
My faith is not in my emotions
My faith is in Your Person

Jesus, you are with me til the end of the age
I want to see your faithfulness today
Help me stand under this trial
Let me grow stronger from something that seems so vile

Spirit, I know You are here
Through trials you draw me near
You draw us me Yourself, the Father and the Son
You remind us that someday my trials will be done

Victory is in Mighty God
He strengthens and improves me through the discipline rod
Even though painful at first
Discipline draws me to God, who quenches my thirst2

Your God is with you
Do not fear the valley of the shadow of death
My God is my rest
I will not be afraid of evil

Only in Christ can I stand
Never will I be torn from His hand
God is my rock and my salvation
Forever I am in His protection

Through Christ I will stand under the trial
Only from the Father my strength will come
Only in the Spirit will I find true comfort for my soul
My faith and my trust is in the God from of old

Through the Mighty God, the solid rock, I will stand

1. Psalm 23:4, "Even though I walk   through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff,  they comfort me" (NIV1984).

2. Hebrews 12:7-11, "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it" (NIV1984)

Poem's Description:
So, I've been interacting with people both on and offline and trials and hardships keep coming up. I went through a trial over Christmas and many others are going through trials now. This lead to me being inspired to write this poem about trials today and I'm going to share it with you.

The truth of the matter is trials are inevitable in the world we live in. Everyone, whether young or old, and regardless of nationality, suffers and goes through hardships. To not expect them or assume they won't come after a person comes to Christ is unrealistic and will become a disappointment. While we are powerless in avoiding them, we do have a powerful weapon during them, which is the gift of free choice. We can choose to allow them to crush us or call upon God and trust in His strength to allow us to stand up underneath it.

Personally, I choose to draw upon the Mighty God to help me stand up underneath them. Not only I will be closer and more in tune with Him, but I will be a stronger individual. This poem is an invitation for you to do the same!

Here is where I got the cover art- http://ic2.pbase.com/u11/mansour_mouasher/upload/38044668.292.jpg

And copyright information for the NIV- Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
 

Revan's Legacy

Author: me, vadess40
Game: Knights of the Old Republic
Characters: Female Darth Revan
Disclaimer: Originally posted here. Female Darth Revan and KOTOR belong to Bioware and LucasArts

As I gaze upon the valley
And see the tombs of the Sith Lords of old
My heart becomes quite heavy
And sadness takes hold

I look upon the work of my hands
Students digging for treasures
That are hidden deep within these dark lands
Oblivious to their enslavement to the darkness' pleasures

I am Revan
What I see is a results of my plans
Plans that are long forgotten
And must be destroyed and brought to a bitter end

I am a Jedi and I regret my former dark life
If only I had not fallen in deep space
Then these students would not be at this place,
And they wouldn't be lost in this twisted world of deception and strife

I was the Dark Lady Revan
I was once their empress and leader
Now all they see in me is a pathetic seeker
A hopeful, who just wants what Revan lost to her betrayer

I am the Jedi Revan
I will not seek revenge
I will only see justice served
For those on Telos and Taris who died by Darth Revan's word

No, I cannot deny what I once was
But I will not embrace it either!
I will fight it with all my strength
A strength that must not wither!

I am Revan
I was Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith
I was the Sith Empire's Queen
Hopefully my legacy can be redeemed

I am Revan
Now I am reborn
Now I am a Jedi
Hopefully I can be forgiven in the galaxy's eye


Follow up to my Countless Droplets of Power. So in KOTOR Revan can either be redeemed or fall back to the dark side again. For my play through, she chooses the light side and is redeemed. So, this poem takes place between after she learns the truth and the ultimate no turning back choice. Enjoy!

Poem- Countless Droplets of Power

Countless Droplets of Power

Author: me, vadess40

Game: Knights of the Old Republic

Characters: Female Darth Revan

Disclaimer: Female Darth Revan and KOTOR belong to Bioware and LucasArts 

Countless droplets of blood were spilled

As the Mandalorians fought with skill

This is how they indoctrinated the Revanchist into war

With all of its wonder and horror

There is no emotion, there is peace

Once those words brought me relief

Now they only bring confusion 

I no longer know what truth is

I am here on this battle field because the Jedi failed

They ignored the Outer Rim's pleas and wails

They refused to help when the Republic called

For, force forbid anyone make them leave their Temple's walls

In this battle, I fought like a Jedi

I aimed to bring peace and restore order

Now I must decide: 

Did my battle strategy cause us to die?

As I write this it now starts to rain

Yet the countless droplets can't wash away confusion and pain

Why did I lose when the light side always wins?

How could Mandalorian philosophy make our numbers thin?

A thought has entered my mind

Perhaps it is time for my battle strategy to be revised

Perhaps the Jedi are blind

And the truth is that the light side only leads to destruction and demise

No, that cannot be true…

Since I was a little girl I've been taught the Jedi way 

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge

Yet all the knowledge that I have known has resulted in loss

What if we lost because the Jedi way is loss?

What if the Jedi way is in vain?

Perhaps the Revanchist will only bring about the Republic's destruction...

Unless we show our enemies the weaknesses within their philosophy, and exploit them

No! Their philosophy, their words are the path to the dark side

Yet what can be done to turn this losing tide?

I did not come to fall but to save

Yet so many people from this war are now in their grave

Remember: There is no passion, there is serenity

There is no chaos, there is harmony

There is no death there is the force

As I look around, my laugh is coarse

No, peace and serenity are lies

Death is clearly everywhere 

Chaos and passion are the ways of the worlds

Those who think otherwise are clearly blind fools

No, peace is a lie; there is only passion

In order to win

Must embrace passions within

Or suffer the fate of the weak

Through passion I gain strength

With this strength, I can crush the Mandalorians,

Save the Republic 

And see that the soldiers and Jedi who fell to the Mandalorians have their revenge!

Revenge? What am I thinking?

Revenge is a path to the dark side

The embracing of passion leads there too

Perhaps these thoughts are the path to ruin…

No, the way of the Jedi leads to ruin!

It is a way that leads to doom…

No, through strength I gain power

Power to crush the Mandalorians

Yes, and through power I gain victory

Through victory my chains are broken and the force shall free me

And the force will free us from tyranny

And the force will free the galaxy

This is the new code of the Revanchist

Just through reciting those words, I can feel the power within my fist!

The countless droplets of power are will be mine as long as I remember:

Peace is a lie, there is only passion

Through passion I gain strength

Through strength I gain power

Through power I gain victory

Through victory my chains are broken

And the force shall free me

May these words of power and glory

Remain forever in my memory

Cower in fear you Mandalorians

For General Revan has now arisen as a greater being

A being that will have her vengeance and destroy you

For I am Revan, a being of countless droplets of darkness, vengeance and power

Poem's Description

I wrote this poem a few weeks ago and posted it the website, DeviantArt in response to a poetical prompt Countless Droplets from the group #Love-4-Dark-Poetry.  It is fan poem inspired by My favourite video game of all time is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), which takes place 4000 years before the Star Wars movies.


For those unfamiliar with KOTOR, Revan rebelled against the Jedi Council because the Council refused to aid the Republic during the Mandalorian Wars. She did so by leading a faction of Jedi, called The Revanchist, to defy the council and become Jedi Generals in the Republic Navy. This poem takes place after the Battle of Dagory Minor; this battle happened three weeks after the Revanchist rally where Revan recruits numerous Jedi, including Shadow, on Dantooine. In this battle they get their first taste of what the Mandalorians are capable of and lose. Shadow concludes her version of the tale by describing how all the Revanchist decided that in order to defeat the Mandalorians, they had to become like their enemy and embrace war.

In the PC version of the game you can download various modifications for the game. One of my favourite modifications for KOTOR, which is really an expansion pack is  Brotherhood of Shadow: Solomon's Revenge  (BOS). In the mod the game's protagonist, Revan, the woman on the right in the above picture, can ask her former assassin, Shadow, the Twi lek on the left and the protagonist of the BOS, about the Mandalorian Wars and the different battles they both fought in when they are on the ship the characters travel around in, the Ebon Hawk.

In this poem, Revan sneaks back on to the battle field where they lost and contemplates what has just happened. In this poem I had hoped to capture the conflict that was going on within her, because she now has a choice to make: Do I accept the loss and continue fighting like a Jedi or do I become like my enemy and embrace their philosophy in order win?

In this poem I included both the Jedi and Sith codes because the battle and it's aftermath are the beginning of Revan's fall to the dark side. Mandalorian and Sith philosophy is so similar that for a Jedi to fight like the Mandalorian is indirectly choosing to fight like the Sith.  Even though Shadow says that Revan's feelings were being felt by all the Jedi at that moment, I believe that Revan was the one who who took the first step as it is said everywhere that all the Jedi, save one, who followed Revan to war fell along with her. While it was their choice whether to side with the Exile or side with Revan, it still doesn't change the fact that Revan was the first to fall and the one who pushed everyone along with her.


The cover art below is from the Malachor V flashback in Brotherhood of Shadow: Solomon's Revenge.

 I enjoyed writing this and I hope you all like it. Feel free to leave both positive feedback and constructive criticism!

Robert Frost- Acquainted with the Night

I receive poetry in my inbox from About.com every morning. I received this poem this morning and I rather enjoyed it, so I decided to share it with you.

Acquainted with the Night
Robert Frost


I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain- and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye,
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.

This poem can be found at this link http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Acquainted_With.htm

Good poem, I liked it.

The Opposite

"If every instinct you have is wrong than the opposite must be right," was spoken numerous times in the season 5 episode 22 and 86th overall episodes of Seinfeld where George does The Opposite. The logic behind that show was that everything in George's life went wrong because he followed his basic instinct. I don't think this rule applies to everything but I think it does with finances, especially mine. 

Face it Andrena, you are horrible with your finances. You spend the money  that God provides you unwisely, and this bad habit ends up hurting the people you love dearly. Everything that comes naturally to you about money has been 100% wrong. Yes, I agree with this philosophy. I spend, hoard, fail to see money's value and at the rate I'm going to be living on the streets with broken dreams, lost hopes, and no real future. If every instinct I have about money is wrong, then the opposite must be right.

I never thought I'd catch myself adopting a philosophy from the show Seinfeld as my own but I feel that this is an act of desperation before I do not have the chance to do the opposite but pure desperation.

Alright George Costanza, I will adopt your religion. If every instinct I have about finances is wrong and leads to heart ache, than the opposite must be right. So, from now on, with God's help of course, I will do the opposite. Up is down, black is white, good is bad, right is wrong, and want I want I don't want. 

This is for you, God, and this is for you, mom!

By the way, this ISN'T A JOKE.  I AM DEAD SERIOUS! IF EVERY INSTINCT I HAVE IS WRONG, THAN THE OPPOSITE MUST BE RIGHT. THEREFORE, I WILL DO THE OPPOSITE!