Stop-ish

Ya... so the other day (actually a number of weeks ago) I was driving the big 15 passenger work van and a cop pulled me over. Not having had that experience very much, and it being the work van, I was a bit nervous. So this cop walks up to the window and does the normal thing asking for licence and registration and all that jazz and luckily I happened to have it on me. To make a potentially long story shorter... I was able to leave with a warning... the problem... apparently I didn't come to a "complete" stop at the stop sign. I think that is one of the only things the cops have to do in this small town (Gibbons), pull over people for not stopping all the way... actually I'm pretty sure that is why the speed limit is 40km/h, they dropped it so they could maybe catch someone speeding (I don't know why else it would be so low)...

All this not to belittle cops by anyway, cops are just doing their job and should be respected properly. What needs to happen (in my opinion) is for the traffic guys to make a new sign and replace it with many of the stop signs out there. This new sign would be a "Stop-ish" sign, so instead of stopping you could just kind-of-stop or "rolling" stop... think of it, all kinds of people would save seconds every time they went through these new stop-ish signs. I mean really a 4-way stop is kind of ridiculous when everyone could just kind-of-stop, right then the number of people who saved time at one intersection has multiplied... It could then turn into people spending more time with family because of all the time they saved not having to stop completely. It would also be easier on the vehicles and take less wear and tear on brakes then turning into less expenses and perhaps even save some marriages because of the financial break everyone got (other then the mechanics). If everyone gets really good at these stop-ish signs it would save even more time as people could hardly-stop. Really if you think of it stop signs are causing all kinds of problems in today's society, almost so that we should fine whoever decides a stop sign needs to go in a certain place what a crazy idea! Why stop when you can kind-of-stop?

The Death of Sanity

Well... for those who have not heard from me in awhile (or perhaps never have) hear is a bit of an update on what has been going on...

My oldest sister just got married (and will shortly have another child) in Brandon, MB. My Mom and Dad (biological); my youngest sister (Mary-Jane) and two of her girls; and I took the van down to the wedding... Any who knows my family would be able to guess the potential for "adventure" a trip like that holds. The trip down was fairly uneventful... aside from the many potty breaks and over energized kids. The wedding went fairly good, very small wedding in the backyard. It was good to see Hope finally get married and for Alisha to have a "Dad" in the home. I enjoyed seeing my niece as I hadn't seen her in quite some time, it was good to see my sister and her now husband too. The trip back from Manitoba was a little more eventful... Left at about 8:00pm Alberta time, ended up going to Lethbridge instead of straight back to Edmonton, ran out of gas at 3:00am and had to wait three hours before gas station opened, drove around Lethbridge trying to find out where my Aunt lived, drove around Lethbridge trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast, Mom got lost for between two and three hours, then on the trip back to Edmonton (finally) we blew a back tire on the van... thus turning a 13 hour trip into about a 26 hour trip!

This trip along with other things such as: my fridge that doesn't work properly; my house having electrical surges (affecting the fridge, lights, and furnace among other things); losing my keys (only to find them in my pocket); and the guy in the Silent part of the library with me right now who's talking way too much and way to loud... these things (along with others) cause me to wonder if the Lord is trying to help me build patience (or some other character trait)... if anyone is wondering, I don't recall asking the Lord to teach me patience although I'm sure it is a good thing to learn, just not a nice thing to be taught. I'm quite glad I do not have the tendency to pull my hair in situations such as these; otherwise I may look more like my Dad then I already do!

I'm sure your life has those moments when you feel more like strangling something/someone more then you feel like being levelheaded. Perhaps your there right now... If someone is near you right now I give you permission to pinch them and you can tell them I gave you such when you do it (although in most situations I'm not sure it will be enough of an excuse). Shouldn't that remind us of how patient the Lord is with us though? We mess up things that really matter and yet He remains so faithful... How thankful for that I am... Thankful enough that I might even resist the urge to slap the "library talker" across the head when I'm done this...

The Leap of Faith

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” ~Eph. 5:1
“The Entire Population of the World – with One Minor Exception – Is Composed of Others.” ~John Maxwell, Winning With People
A guy I had started a friendship with got fairly proactive and took me out to a skydiving course with him... We weren’t able to go the day of the course so I ended up going on a day by myself... It was quite the experience! I am in what might be termed as a “student program”, that is I jump on my own without anyone attached to me and each time I jump I have a different objective to achieve. I believe the objective this time was to make it down alive and bonus points for not breaking anything on the landing! (I hope that remains a long standing objective, in case I decide to go again... which I probably will, considering any hope of a low life insurance policy is already shot).
At any rate I showed up at this hick town airport alone asking them if there is anyone who will throw me out of a flying plane (I know of a number of people in the past who have wished to do a similar thing to me... although probably not for the same motives and they would have done so for free). I waited a while but nobody else show up and for some reason this didn’t concern me as you’d think it should have. It turned out for the “better” though... Eventually most of the instructors got ready and in no time (waivers signed) we were in the plane ready to hurl down to the ground hoping a backpack full of clothing material would save us. It was when I was kneeling in the plane ready to take off that I was informed we were going to do something a little “special”, or as the instructor said it “we don’t do this for students, but considering it’s just you...” (Previously I was told we they are dropping me off, quite literally, at 4,000 feet rather than 3,500 because they didn’t want to “stop” for me). What was this “special” treat? They call it “the Superman”; basically instead of taking off normally they get you to lean forward and as soon as your off the ground (this is about the time they asked me if it was okay) the pilot pulls on the stick thrusting the plane from a horizontal position to more of a space shuttle position (a.k.a. straight up)... it is quite interesting how the parts inside your body like to swap places when that happens but eventually my stomach decided to return to the position it was created to be in.
Up up up we went and just about when I thought it was time to get out the instructor said “this is a thousand feet” (three more thousand to go)! To tell the truth I wasn’t all that nervous yet, actually we got up to four thousand feet (everything became really tiny) and I was fine, the door opened I climbed out (almost too soon), I went to the end of the wing and hung there by just my arms... I was fine... I let go of the plane... that didn’t go so good! Suddenly my broken “DANGER!” Light came on in my head, whatever mechanical code it was it stood for, “yep gravity still works and it’s doing an overhaul on you!” Rather than making the all important “X” formation one sees in pictures of skydivers I made more of a squiggly “I” formation like someone who just jumped off a building thinking it was a footstool.
I ended up completing at least one of my objectives (to get down alive, even without braking anything!) and according to my instructors I did fairly well at the rest of the jump too (that is after the parachute caught me).I suppose as I think of this event I’m reminded how we need to live our Christian lives: to let go of the things we are bond to and trust the Lord to catch us (even when we don’t have a back up parachute); to enjoy the ride while being mindful of where we’re headed; and most of all to take “risks” for the Lord! There are a lot of people willing to do some pretty crazy things: Base jumping, diving and biking off cliffs, stunt flying, etc. I wonder though, How many of us are really willing to take a “risk” for the Lord? To take Him at His Word; to “live a life of love”; to reach out to a hurting world? Out of a sudden jumping from a plane doesn’t seem all that bad.

Trips taken, truths?... learning.

“The work of [The LORD’s] hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy. They are steadfast for ever and ever, done in faithfulness and uprightness.” ~Ps. 111:7-8

Wow! It has been quite the number of weeks the last while! Some fairly intense things have happened along with some pretty cool things. As I am not currently connected to the internet so I’m not sure when the last time I wrote was, I’ll just write about the last couple of weeks...
Just before the beginning of July I went out to Saskatchewan for a surprise visit... I spoke at a cabin retreat for the Lost River youth group I lead for awhile and who have a part of my heart. The Lord showed me His faithfulness as I worked on preparing the messages (they were just in time and fell together wonderfully). I spoke on our desires and the need for our longing to be after God not the mirages and “broken cisterns” of life (A message I was/am needing these days). It was a great time connecting and hanging out with some pretty special people I got to know previously. That time was followed with a trip to Nipawin, Melfort and Lost River area visiting with some of the wonderful people I got to know during my time out there. I had a lot of fun playing soccer, River canoeing, watching fireworks, and talking with others.
Let me tell you a story! It is not one you have heard yet as I have only eluded it to one person so far... Actually I feel like making a number of disclaimers here but... oh well... On my trip home from Saskatchewan (a long trip to be sure) I ended up picking up two hitch hikers (not something I necessarily encourage). The first one was an older (middle aged) naive guy I picked up right after P.A. and drove to Shellbrook for a doctor’s appointment. We talked of the N.C.E.M mission near there and he said he listened to their program sometimes... It was good to talk with him and offer a ride as I tried to encourage him along the path God was trying to guide him down... The next hiker was a little more “interesting”... I picked him up shortly after I dropped the other guy off, just after Shellbrook. Let me give you some “advise”... 1.you shouldn’t normally pick up hitchhikers and 2.the other thing... if you do and they ask were your headed don’t say something like “Edmonton (6 hours away)” say something more like “where are you going? I can drop you off maybe in an hour or so...” Unless you’re ready for a long trip! No one ever gave me that advise (the latter)...
So the Hitchhiker (his name is Don) said, “Where are you going?” and I said “Edmonton”... then he said “ME TOO!” ...sigh. (I suppose if I were to follow the Biblical example of “going the extra mile” I should have dropped him off in say Price George, B.C. but I’m not sure he would have appreciated it, plus... 6 hours was long enough). I got to know Don a bit during our time together... be it through his signing to the music while he was not quite half awake; his continuous talking about whatever; his potty breaks in places others would not normally go (at least during daylight hours); or his mistaking a guy in a vehicle next to ours for a girl and calling him “good looking” (my words,) along with Don’s colourful language when he found out it was not in fact a female... You know what really strikes me about Don though... God loves him soooo much! I thought of Don after this time together and I’m quite glad for the opportunity the Lord gave to me in meeting with him... What a blessing it is to be able to do something even so small as that for the Lord! To do something small as that for someone... for anyone! Don is a guy who’s lonely and searching... there are many many more people just like him. Different faces, different names, the same depth of love from the Lord... Maybe we should do more than just think about loving people (namely the “Don’s”) and start actually doing it and rejoicing in the opportunities the Lord gives us to do so.
I would love to write more but I think I should end on that note...
“...The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’... He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” ~Mt. 25:40,45

So I haven't posted in awhile... I suppose that is a good sign prehaps pointing to that I might have a bit of a life. I've been really quite busy with going places and would love to write about it soon so stay tuned!

WILD MAN!!!

To tell you the truth it has been a long couple weeks (busy with little rest) and tonight I feel like reading some of my book much more then I feel like typing this... However I also feel a type of burden to write about something that has been going in my mind lightly... I’ve been reading a couple of books (I rarely read one at a time) and by providence they have recently crossed paths on an issue that hits me, my situation, and many other guys out there right where we’re at. I hesitate to write this as it is quite candid and yet at the same time it is a start to what guys really need to grab a hold of and start living out. I write mainly thoughts from Wild at Heart: Chp. 3...
“All men die; few men ever really live...” ~Braveheart. Eldredge quotes this at the beginning of his chapter and quite fittingly so as that is what we are talking about here: How so many men/guys are living what might be termed as the “Low life”, not just that we have fallen to all kinds of sin (in various forms) but also that we have not grabbed a hold of the passion within us. As Eldredge says it, “The real life of the average man seems a universe away from the desires of his heart.”(pg. 41). We wonder why so few guys are found in church or church related places (both young and old); A good friend of mine (Crystal) recently wrote a blog about her disgust of the TV/Video choices of some guys she knows; There are many stories of Pastors and teachers who have fallen to all kinds of sin... Consider, “If a man does not find those things for which his heart is made, if he is never even invited to live for them from his deep heart, he will look for them in some other way.” (Eldredge, 44). My friends, I feel for the most part our Christian community does not invite a man to follow the desires and passions of a pure heart within us! At least not to the extent it should. In part, that is the reason guys watch movies they shouldn’t watch, and look at pictures they shouldn’t, and many other sinful things. They are in pursuit of the adventure the church lacks, the adventure God gave them a thirst for.
I believe this has a lot to do with the calling of God upon our lives. In the first place the calling God has for us to live a pure life, devoted to the Lord and stayed upon Him. In the second place the calling the Lord has upon our lives as individuals! You can argue till the cows come home on Predestination vs. Free Will but in this instance I really don’t care, the Lord most surely has a call on our lives individually. He asks you to serve Him were you are at right now, in your job, in your school, in your neighbourhood... are you striving after those things which God would have you do were your at right now? Are you being faithful with the “little” so that perhaps one day you can be trusted with “much”?
Too many churches/people have lost the “power of challenge” because it isn’t comfortable, and generally in N. America we don’t like the things which stand in the way of comfort. I’m telling you Christians need to read Scripture so as to search and convict (oh, dirty word) their hearts; Preachers need to preach by the power of the Holy Spirit and for change (oh, another dirty word); and you and I need to get off our butts and start running the race, fighting the fight, and striving for the prize and victory which the Lord designed us for. I’m talking about putting our energies toward the things of the Lord and the things which he has laid on our hearts!
“We need to help guys find adventure, break the boredom, and discipline their minds by actively replacing porn [or other unhealthy pursuits] with healthy pursuits. This becomes a greater adventure when we draw a connection between the need for adventure and the need to be spiritually connected with God.” ~Gerali, TeenageGuys. Pg. 89