Chicken and Fries

From Fear To Trust

2012-01-17T08:55:00.000-05:00

I woke up really early last week which for those of you who know me know this is a highly rare occurrence. After making sure I wasn't having a heart attack or was awake for some other medical emergency--and after trying unsuccessfully to get back to sleep I spent the time thinking and praying a bit. I've been admittedly anxious lately over a few things and as that was likely the cause of my restlessness I went about trying to address some of the causes of my anxiety.

My mind drifted to this fear that was gnawing away at me. Here's what I know:

- It's really really negative
- It makes me feel physically unwell
- It causes me to doubt myself
- It tells me to withdraw from my community
- It shortens my perspective
- It presents bad choices as the only choices
- It directs my thoughts away from my faith and on to myself

After some thought I found myself making the declaration that instead of fear I choose to trust. Here's what I know about trust:

- For me the first question is who or what am I trusting in. As a Christian I immediately go to the comfort I find in the knowledge that there's a loving and personal God that I've decided to throw my lot in with and who in return propmises me that He won't allow me to go through more than I can handle.

- Trust by it's nature is very positive and reassuring
- It is life giving
- It inspires self-confidence -
- I long to connect with others and hear their story when I trust
- My perspective is as wide and as large as I want it to be when I trust. There are no limits.
- Quickly all the bad choices fade away and are replaced by good ones. Often these choices are ones that are creative, dynamic, and ones that I could never have forseen.

This became one of those transcendent moments where as soon as I said the words in my mind I felt the pressure of the fear lift. Once I decided to trust and not fear, I was once again ready to face my challenges head on.

So what are you doing this Christmas?

2011-12-24T13:53:00.001-05:00

Here's what my parents are up to...

Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,

I’m up with the sun (4:30!) to get ready for two of the busiest days of our year. At 9:30, we take Christmas gifts to all the children and adults at our Noviane community. The kids will begin with some singing they’ve prepared and one of the girls will read the Christmas story from Luke 2 in Portuguese. Most of their gifts are actually clothes and practical things they need anyway, but they’ve all been very excited in anticipation of this special occasion. We have four new kids living with us there who have arrived fairly recently. Three are from very poor backgrounds and the fourth from a background of violent abuse. For the poor ones, receiving gifts and receiving something new will be firsts. They don’t even have a grid for anticipating this experience. It humbles me when I think about their lives—and the lives of so many others trapped in the depths of poverty—in our world of such abundance.

Then at 1:30 we go to Mieze to give gift bags to all the Mieze kids. I’ll miss being at the children’s evangelistic program there this morning (in order to be at Noviane), but I’ve already taken hundreds of small bags of chips and suckers and other candy out for distribution to the 3-400 kids who will come to hear about the birth of Jesus...and to receive a plate of beans and rice. Several of these kids were telling me yesterday they were hungry and there was no food at home. I was able to give some money to some. We’re doing what we can to help and thankfully they’re no longer starving. Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking in the Mieze church. Then, after church we’ll feed a full chicken dinner to over a thousand. That will be the Father’s Christmas gift to his faithful church.

We’ll finish today with Iris’ traditional candlelight service for our Pemba kids. However, it’s not exactly “Silent Night, Holy Night” as it quickly degenerates into a candle-fight service. The object becomes to blow out others’ candles while protecting your own. Teams form spontaneously as they try to keep at least one candle burning to re-light the others’ while they attack other teams’ candles. Don’t try this at home!

Tomorrow, after church the Pemba Base will also feed a Christmas chicken meal to 4,000 while we’re feeding a thousand or more in Mieze. Then, if we have any energy left, there’ll be an informal Christmas party for missionaries in the evening.

This out-pouring of love and goodness to the least of these in Jesus’ name is only possible because you care. Thank you for all your prayers and generosity throughout 2011 which are bringing hundreds, young and old, into the Kingdom Jesus came to reveal (Luke 4:43).

With our love and appreciation,

Don and Elizabeth

It's Christmas in Carleton Place

2011-11-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

We made it through the entire Carleton Place Christmas Parade last night mostly due to strategically placing ourselves at the beginning rather than the end of the route as we had in years past. One thing I noticed right away (and much to the delight of my kids) was that there's way more candy available and the people handing it out are way more eager to offer it. The evidence proves it as we got a pretty decent bag full of goodies this year as opposed to other years where we were lucky to get a candy cane.

There were the usual assortment of small-town charm(y) floats...The mayor being pulled in a carriage by a very skittish horse. I'm assuming she made it unscathed as I haven't heard anything about a carriage wreck or an emergency election being called. There were also live cows, the prerequisite dance schools with their uber-cheerful troupe of girls (plus the one token guy) doing their Christmas routines, and the float from the Ploughman's Association which inexplicably led my friend who was standing beside me to start giggling like a school girl.

Now having grown up in a small town and finding myself living in just a slightly larger one I have had a long appreciation for the writings of Garrison Keillor and his beloved Lake Woebegone (shout out to Mr. Duplissea for introducing these books to me way back in High School). I love Keillor because I feel like I know what he's talking about when he writes about his small prairie town in Minnesota. This float last night was my Lake Woebegone moment.

And that's the news from Carleton Place...

Sunday Sermon - Don't Just be Good, Be Great!

2011-11-13T15:11:00.000-05:00

This is the transcript of the message I gave at OVV this morning. You'll see I've used powerpoint which I'm happy to e-mail to anyone who really wants it. sorry for the weird formatting thing too down towards the end. I'm not sure what happened and how to fix it.

A few weeks ago I was sharing a meal with someone who knows me fairly well. This is someone who I respect for his insight and his ability to speak into people’s lives so when he took the time to share some observations of what he was seeing going on with me, I had this inner nudge you could call it that I rather than follow my basic instinct (slide 1) that I should shut up and listen. He touched on a few different things—all true but if I could sum up a large part of the message he was trying to get across to me it was that I was almost always content at being good (slide 2)...a good person, a good worker, a good friend, etc...but I rarely strove to be great in anything that I did. Why was that? What was it that was keeping me from pushing through from being ok to being amazing (slide 3)? Admittedly I didn’t have an answer for him at that point as I was kind of reeling from the truth of the statement and the questions he was asking. I mumbled and fumbled and we talked a bit more about some general barriers that might be holding me back but it was clear I think that I had just come up against something that I needed time to process and gracefully we changed the subject.

This conversation hasn’t left me though. In the quiet times I’ve gone back to it and tried to sort through the why’s a bit more. One thing that was clear right away is that there is both a practical and a spiritual component to this answer which is one reason why I’m talking about it today. For those of us who acknowledge the reality of the spiritual and in this context, the belief that all we are and all we do are founded in our faith in Jesus Christ we know that we can take all the practical steps possible to change or correct our situation but unless they are rooted in the truth and will of God, they will eventually fall flat. Unless the our spiritual foundation is solid then whatever we build will set in sand and subject to the waves that come against it until again it eventually collapses and is washed away (slide 4). So for me here’s how I saw the process happening...I needed to figure out what the spiritual principles are that take me from being good to being great. Before I can do that though I need to know what barriers are there that are getting in my way. What issues of faith or wrong belief are keeping me from that journey of being great? Even before that though I think there’s two fundamental questions that I need to ask and I want to explore this morning...Does God actually wants us to be great? If so, what does He mean by that? Spiritually speaking, what does it mean for us to be great?

Does God Want Us To Be Great? I think the simple answer here is absolutely (slide 5). Time and time again in the scriptures we see evidence of God calling people and nations to a higher standard of belief and of behaviour. That’s the easy question to answer. The answer that’s a little more detailed is what does kind of great does God want us to be? What’s God’s definition of great? First of all we need to remember that the reason we should want to be great is often quite different from what our basic human nature requires from us. Much of the reasons for us to be great in a practical or worldly context revolves I think around a conscious or unconscious need for increased personal return or sense of satisfaction which we find in both the people we consider great and for those actions and beliefs we take on ourselves. In fact I would suggest that this applies for even the greatest philanthropists or selfless acts just as much as the normal every day person. We’re all motivated to some extent by our selfish nature and either we can’t help admire the great people of the world and stand in awe of them to some extent...but in the end of course they’re human and full of holes just like the rest of us. (slide 6 and 7) or we attempt to be great ourselves through action or belief in some way that validates our reasons for being. All of this only gets us so far and in the end is very, very temporary.

The reason we want to be great as believers is completely different of course. While the actions are still practical and often world-changing, our motivation is completely different...at least it should be. Instead of personal return or satisfaction (which can still exist) our motivation is found in the eternal both for us and for those we encounter. It’s that Kingdom of God thing that Ahren’s been talking about over the last few weeks. (Slide 8) By being great we can not only change people’s lives now but also their futures. Our future is secure and so can it be for others too...and we’ve got the means to do it. What other reason do we need to be great but that?

So we know God calls us to be great and we know why this is important...but the question still remains what does it mean to be great? What’s the definition of great from God’s perspective? I think perhaps the most comprehensive definition of what it means to be great may be found in Matthew chapter 5. Here we have Jesus entering into the main part of his ministry on earth where having just crossed the sea of Galilee he encounters a large crowd waiting for him. He positions himself high up on a hill where everyone can hear him, he calls his disciples to him and begins his Sermon on the Mount with what we know as the Beatitudes. (Read passage from slide 9).

One thing that is worth pointing out first is Jesus using the term blessed here. Commentaries tell us that rather than thinking of it here as a direct action such as a priestly blessing (slide 10) it is more meant to, “...introduce someone who is to be congratulated, someone whose place in life is an enviable one. (Tyndale New Testament Commentary) It denotes happiness as their prime state of mind.” This suggests to us then that the beatitudes are more than just a prescription to live right but a definition of what God thinks great is. If we follow these instructions we are told that we will be blessed...or be transformed to a place of contentment where the Kingdom of God will live in us and work through us. Thinking back to the idea of why be great, the Tyndale Commentary again tells us that the beatitudes are presented as, “...the best way of life, not only in its intrinsic goodness but in its results.”

Now we don’t have time this morning to look at all 8 teachings but let’s highlight three and look at them in the context of how it defines God’s definition of great. Blessed are the poor in spirit (slide 11). What we know right away is that this doesn’t refer at all to material poverty. Rather as Charles Finney puts it being poor in spirit refers to having, “To having a realizing sense of our spiritual state. In this it is implied that we understand our own guilt and helplessness, and realize as a practical fact our own utter emptiness by nature of everything good, and of any tendency to that which is good. It is one thing to hold this in theory, and another thing to be heartily sensible of the humbling fact. Most professing Christians admit in words that they are in themselves wholly helpless and destitute, but to know and feel as an abiding practical conviction that this is their true spiritual condition how few are able!” What makes us great then if we are poor in spirit is our realization that we are completely and utterly dependent on the blessing and provision of God to sustain us. It doesn’t mean we don’t work or cease existing in some way rather we do so in a continual position of humility and acknowledgement that what we have and what we do is not our own God’s. There’s a freedom that comes from this position of poverty if you will because as Finney again says we’ve now learned, “... how blessed it is to trust Christ. They see such fullness in Christ, they do not wish any strength of their own. Their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption are in Christ, and they need and wish for none of their own. Christ is all they need, and they need nothing in themselves. They have them all in Christ, and they are willing and glad to have them in him.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied (slide 12). Greatness in God’s eyes is defined by a hunger and thirst for righteousness...what does that mean? The word itself here is not thought to mean spiritual justice in this context rather something deeper and more intimately connected to God himself. The Tyndale commentary writes that, “...the meaning here will be that their one desire will be for a relationship of trust and obedience with God. It is thus a personal aspiration, not a desire for social justice...it’s a whole orientation of life towards God and his will” How many times have we looked at this passage I wonder and thought of this as an aggressive pursuit...a dangerous quest like the knights of old looking to slay the dragon and get their reward from the King (slide 13). The reality of course is that this couldn’t be farther from the truth that Jesus was talking about at least in this context. Our quest for righteousness is found in the depth of our pursuit of our relationship with God himself. (Slide 14) We all know this verse don’t we? So what makes us great is the strength and depth of our relationship with God. That makes sense doesn’t it? As Matthew Henry writes in his commentary, “Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are happy. Righteousness is here put for all spiritual blessings. These are purchased for us by the righteousness of Christ, confirmed by the faithfulness of God. Our desires of spiritual blessings must be earnest. Though all desires for grace are not grace, yet such a desire as this is a desire of God's own rising, and he will not forsake the work of his own hands.”

Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy (Slide 15). Simply put how mercy makes us great is that it turns our focus off of ourselves onto those around us The difference here though is that we show mercy because we have been shown mercy first and foremost from God himself. Shakespeare himself said in The Merchant of Venice (slide 16) “The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself” The greatness of mercy though isn’t just in the action of casual sympathy for someone else’s pain or plight. That’s not what Jesus is talking about here. The Greek word for mercy can be traced back to a Hebrew work that Barclay’s commentary describes as the following, “It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for someone ill trouble...mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.” So to be great we need to show a deep and meaningful mercy to those around us—something far more than a deep wave of pity. We need to intimately connect with what people are feeling and act from that place...that is an advanced and very committed action isn’t? Are we ready for that? Are we capable of that? I don’t think so—not without God’s help. That is why mercy itself is reciprocal in its nature. We can be merciful because we have received mercy from God himself. Nicky Gumble, the creator of the Alpha series writes that, “Jesus stressed time and again, as he does here, that it is those who show mercy who will receive mercy. It is not that we can earn God's mercy. Rather, the fact that we forgive is evidence that we have been forgiven by God. It is not a bargain with God, but a virtuous circle. When we see how much God has forgiven us we cannot fail to have mercy on others.”

All right so we should stop here for today but this is just the first step in my journey of learning how to be great. I wonder though if there’s more than just me that resonates with the struggle to first come to grips with what it means and secondly to figure out how to get there (slide 17). This morning we at least have an understanding that God wants us to be great but that the meaning of the word is much different than what we would expect it to be. Most of it is rooted in our relationship and our reliance on him to provide. There will likely be a lot more stops on the road to figure things out and choose what direction is next but like all of us as long as we’re still on it, that’s what counts. (Slide 18)

Let’s pray...

Don't be good--be great!

2011-11-05T20:53:00.000-04:00

Finally I have some time to stop and write...I should take the train more often.

So what's on my mind? A while back someone I highly respect pointed out about how I tend to hedge my bets a lot in order to protect myself from disappointment or failure. I will default to the half measure or to the safe thing. I’m content to be good not great...

It was one of those passing moments of truth where you immediately know any argument you may attempt just comes off as foolish. I’ve thought about this often over the last while and am trying to both in my words and actions present myself not only with more confidence but push through the moments of uncertainty where I would often default to the safe and comfortable path. This has been a harder task than I’d thought it would be at times as I wrestle with the unease of the unknown and its effect on my confidence.

It’s also very much a spiritual pursuit as it’s directly connected to my level of trust that God actually wants me to be successful and to figure out what that means. Somewhere there still exists a poverty mentality inside of me that’s manifesting itself in my reluctance to invest myself if I sense impending failure or disappointment.

One thing I’ve come to understand is that there’s a difference between being rich and being successful. Rich just implies money at least in my mind and I don’t think that is what God desires for us. Success on the other hand implies a level of achievement which can be all-encompassing. One can be successful financially, spiritually, be a successful father, be a successful leader, etc. It also is a subjective measurement which demands continual improvement...this is a good thing as it battles complacency.

And the journey continues...but it is a good one and one that I’m glad to be on.

Sunday Sermon - The Rhythm of our Inner Life

2011-07-11T12:58:00.000-04:00

Restoring the Rhythm of our Inner Life

So as I’ve been thinking and praying about what to speak on this week I’ve had this phrase bouncing around my head, “The Inner Life.” Strangely enough this does happen to me a lot where I get a shred of an idea and have to decide on what to do with it from there. That thought then developed into this idea of The Rhythm of our Inner Life and I thought hey...there’s my sermon for this week.

Then I remembered Ahren’s talk last week...actually I had to go back and listen to it again on podcast...apparently I wasn’t paying attention.

If you remember last week as Ahren talked to us for the last time before his sabbatical he referenced the idea of Spiritual Rhythms. He talked a little bit of the seasons as representing various rhythms in our spiritual lives and what we’ve been through together as a community. As we move into summer now he talked about it as a time of rest, healing, and peace. The pace slows down and for whatever reason; in the summer most of us find time to breathe a little bit easier.

If you know me of course this was an analogy that appealed to me greatly because the one instrument I actually learned how to play was the drums and then later on, percussion. Rhythm is actually something I know a little bit about so I figure this must have stuck with me subconsciously or something because I honestly hadn’t made the connection with Ahren’s sermon until I started looking around to reference something just a few days ago.

So I am going to stick with this idea though but don’t worry I’m not going to repeat what Ahren talked about...not really at least. Instead using the idea of rhythm, I want to take the warning that Ahren gave us toward the end of his talk last week about not getting spiritually dehydrated over this summer season and spend some time identifying the elements that I think might make up what I’m calling the rhythm of our inner life as believers. I think it stands to reason doesn’t it that in order for us to maintain a healthy inner life, that we have to know...or at least have a basic understanding of what that might be.

Before we get to that, let’s start with a basic drum lesson. Move to the drum set. There are three parts to a basic rock drum beat which represent the foundation on which all other beats are formed. If you can master this beat, you at least have a hope of growing into a decent drummer over time with the right amount of practice and discipline. Figuring out this beat really isn’t hard. You start with the bass drum or “the kick” if you’re in the know. It’s 4/4 timing and all you have to do is this. Play basic rock beat with kick. Simple enough right? Now to add some layers you move on to the snare drum. It contrasts to the bass drum with a higher and sharper tone. Add snare to kick. Lastly the third part of this beat to add in is the high hat which adds a higher tone yet again at a faster tempo than the other two layers. Add high hat to bass and snare.

There you go...the three parts of what’s considered the basic foundational beat of most rock drumming.

I want run with this for this rest of my talk this morning and use these three elements as an analogy of what I think are the key elements that make up the rhythm of our inner life as believers. First of all what do you think of when you hear the bass drum? To me I hear a heartbeat. It’s a deep and steady rhythm that anchors everything else that’s going on. Take it away; you’ve got no foundation...no bottom layer on which anything else can be built on. Our inner life as a believer needs that same foundation or heartbeat in order to survive. We need something to anchor us and to give us life. So where do we find this heartbeat? I think we’re all aware enough to know that our heart alone isn’t enough to sustain a successful inner life as a believer. Instead I think we find the heartbeat when we join our hearts with God’s at the moment we become a believer. Ours becomes his and there we have the source of strength to sustain us. Psalm 73:25-26 speaks of this as we read, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

So the first element of our inner life as a believer is connecting with the heartbeat of God. But what comes after that? I think that’s when we move on to the snare which represents to me the idea of consistency. Snap, snap, snap....in that basic beat I was talking about. Pulling that into the analogy of the rhythm of our inner life as a believer I think the consistent beat of the snare drum can represent the means we have to reach the heartbeat of God that is present in our lives. Consistency is important as the more we strive to reach that heartbeat the more our inner lives are sustained as the rhythm remains strong and consistent. John 15:7 says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

The question of course is how do we make that connection and maintain it? I think the obvious answer is through developing a consistent prayer life. Now this is a sermon series in itself I realize about what an effective prayer life might look like but for the sake of time I think what Richard Foster said in an interview might sum it up well. This is a little long but bear with me as I think it paints a good picture of what we might want our prayer lives to look like. “Pray as you can, not as you can't. There are many ways to pray. Of course, what I end up saying is, "Pray 24 hours a day." That is, we learn a way of living in which prayer simply pervades everything. One of the old writers said of the prayerful life, "It takes none of our time, but it occupies all of our time." I would encourage people to find ways in which prayer fits naturally into their lives.

There are lots of ways of praying. One writer talks about "flash prayers." You just give a flash prayer as you're on the elevator going to the next appointment. You might pray about your work. You might pray about your children. These are important prayers that you give before God.

The people who speak of an hour a day are probably referring to a time when you might have the Bible in front of you. That's a very important thing to do. But, maybe once a day is a difficult thing. How about just once a week in a little more extended way and see what you learn from that. How about an afternoon once a week in which you simply give this time to God and learn, and prayerfully go through the Bible. Or maybe you want to pray with God as you take a walk in a park, and that can be a prayer walk. If you miss a day, God isn't going to zap you. That isn't how God works.

Just don't turn it into a system, a legalism. Prayer is a living relationship. And so the idea of one hour a day is just a way of saying, you know, get acquainted. You spend time with your spouse because you love your spouse, because you want to be with your husband or wife, and that's the same way with God. We spend time because that is part of the love relationship.

We must never be discouraged by our lack of prayer. Even in our prayerlessness we can hunger for God. If so, the hunger itself is prayer. One writer said, "The desire for prayer is prayer, the prayer of desire." In time, the desire will lead to practice, and practice will increase the desire. When we cannot pray, we let God be our prayer. Nor should we be frightened by our hardness of heart; prayer will soften it. We give even our lack of prayer to God.”

Let’s leave this section with a good word of caution from Matthew 26:41. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The last element of that fundamental drum beat of course is then the high hat. Now I’ll admit I’m likely stretching the limits of this metaphor but I liken adding the high hat to the mix being like adding the element of mystery to our inner life as a believer. Bear with me here. Without the high hat, the beat that I showed you earlier is plodding, boring and quite frankly uninteresting (demonstrate quickly). When you add in the high hat though something changes—the beat goes from plodding and uninteresting to something with depth and even an element of texture. Why? It’s hard to explain really...it’s a bit of a mystery. All we’re doing is adding another element with a different beat and tone but the difference is there. It makes the rhythm complete.

Moving this idea over to the idea of the rhythm of our inner life as a believer, the idea of mystery I think is crucial because takes that rhythm from being potentially mundane to one that can be full of beauty, depth, and texture. You know Scripture does actually refer to there being an element of mystery to our faith on several occasions. In talking about the qualifications of a Deacon, Paul writes to Timothy that they must, “...hold(ing) the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.” (1 Tim 3:9 NKJV). Later on in the same chapter he writes in verse 16, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”

Again realizing this is a topic in itself; let’s simply acknowledge the possibility of mystery being the final element to the rhythm of our inner life as a believer. I think Brennan Manning completes this thought well when he writes in his book, The Furious Longing of God that, "The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian."

To finish this up there’s a couple of things to consider about the basic rock rhythm that we need to mention that also completes this analogy of our inner life as believers. First of all is that for the beat to work it has to be done together. All the elements are interconnected...each one working in conjunction with the other. This is the same for the rhythm of our inner life as a believer. For it to be in balance, those elements have to be in unison. This is where the caution from Ahren last week to not let ourselves get spiritually dehydrated during this season is so important. While we may be connected to the heartbeat of God as a believer, without a consistent connection to Him, and an embracing of the mysterious truths of our faith, our rhythm will eventually fall apart.

The second thing to consider is that what makes all this work is the Holy Spirit that lives inside each one of us. He is the connector between the elements of the rhythm of our inner life. He connects us to the heartbeat of God, He walks with us to inspire the consistency of the prayer life we need, and He is the one that reveals us to the mysteries of our faith. He is the one that gives us our sense of timing and puts the elements together so they form the rhythm that will sustain us. Let’s finish today with a final scripture that ties this all together. Thinking of the role of the Holy Spirit here 1Corinthian 2:6-14 reads, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

Let’s pray...

Adopt vs Adapt

2011-06-21T14:06:00.000-04:00

Once again Seth Godin shares a truism with many applications. See the post here.

The Worship Experience

2011-06-08T17:48:00.000-04:00

So I hear talk in the church once in a while about what can be done to maximize the worship experience for those who attend. While I understand the reasons for and behind the conversation, something about it has always left me feeling a little unsettled.

As someone who spent quite a bit of time on worship teams in both small and large environments, I saw the occasionally positive but often negative effects (on both the musicians and the congregation) of this conversation first hand. In fact in my case it was what eventually drove me out the door from one team.

While I know context and culture all have a certain relevance, I just can't help but think the answer to the question is found somewhere in this video.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1730723514942

Btw...the video is from my Mother who is working with Dad in Mozambique, Africa. To learn more about what they're doing, check out their website www.harvestinafrica.com.

What do you think?

Sleep

2011-04-24T15:22:00.000-04:00

Something beautiful for a weekend where we celebrate something beautiful.

"In my entire life I had seen in black and white and suddenly everything was in shocking Technicolor. The most transformative moment I’ve ever had. In that single moment hearing dissonance and harmony...and people singing...people together...the shared vision. I felt for the first time I was part of something bigger than myself."

Buying an Education or Buying a Brand

2011-04-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

This is a good blog post from Seth Godin that covers the subject of education vs experience. It's one that I feel conflicted about because of who I am and what I do for a living. Click here to read it and ask yourself, was my 4, 5, 6+ years at school and the money I "invested" in my future all worth it?

I'll write more in the next few days on what I think about this. Btw...sorry for the silence lately on Chicken and Fries. Work and family have taken up most of my time in the last couple of week.

Why I Appreciate Starbucks

2011-04-06T21:15:00.001-04:00

I wanted to suggest an article to check out on the HBR blog. Tony Schwartz in his article, Why I Appreciate Starbucks offers a review of company CEO Howard Schultz's new book Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Loosing it's Soul. I've put it on my "to read" list as I really enjoyed Schultz's first book and think this will be just as good if not more. Starbucks has essentially been to the brink and back both financially and values-wise over the last few years. It came to the point where Schultz stepped back into a day to day leadership role to renew the organization and shepherd it to a point where it saw it's largest period of growth during the last quarter. This book reflects on that time and the journey that the organization and Schultz himself went through. Here's a couple of highlights from the article.

What makes Schultz a different kind of leader is his recognition that any company today must see itself as part of a larger community, serving a universe of stakeholders far beyond its immediate shareholders.

Schultz talks about his mission in a way that's very different from most CEOs. "Everything we've tried to do," he writes, "is steeped in humanity." I LOVE THIS QUOTE!!

My Cluttered Mind

2011-04-04T21:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a few random thoughts that have been milling around in my brain this week:

- It's been a great first week of work with Tyndale. I was realizing today again how much I really like working in the Christian higher ed field and how excited I am to work for Tyndale. It's great connecting with local church and ministry leaders and telling them about a school that is truly on the move.

- Part of being a parent I think is creating a series of memories for your children. They may not necessarily remember every moment but collectively they leave (hopefully) a positive impression.

- I was thinking today of a time in high school where Dad was so busy working that he forgot to drive me to a hockey game. I ended up being late and not getting to play. He felt really bad--I remember that distinctly. It occurred to me that this was one of the very few "mistakes" I ever remember Dad making when I was a kid which is why I remember it so well. I hope my kids remember my mistakes--then I'll know I'm a great Dad.

- I need to start keeping a private journal again. I did it fairly regularly during a phase in my life and occasionally have come back to it over the years. Nothing for a while though and there are things that I think are worth saying but not for public consumption at this point. I wish I could share them but it wouldn't be right. I want to get them on paper though.

- Guess where I'm going with the boys in a couple of weeks? Awesome!!!

Where am I now?

2011-03-29T20:37:00.021-04:00

So as I mentioned a while back on Twitter, I finished up my position with St. Stephen's University about a month ago. After a few weeks of Mr. Mom work, I've now started a new contract position doing recruiting and pr work for...

Tyndale University College and Seminary

For those of you who know me I realize some might be wondering how I can do this given my intimate connection with SSU. How can I the son of the founding President, choose to work for the "competition"?

The answer is really quite simple actually. My time at SSU drew to a close. There were no issues, no hurt feelings or burned bridges. They blessed me as I left and I left offering a blessing to them. It was as good a parting as you can get because it was the right time. And just for the record--SSU and Tyndale aren't competitors in any way. But enough about that...on to new adventures.

I'm really exited to be working for Tyndale. It's a school that's got generations of quality Christian Higher Education behind is and it is also a school that is growing in leaps and bounds. Instead of giving you the whole pitch here though, check out their website to learn more. I actually do have a family connection to Tyndale as well. My Mom is a grad from many years ago when it was a Bible College

The job I'll be doing is pretty similar to what I did at SSU except it's all local. I'm pretty excited about that as well as that means no crazy travel schedule. I'll be making contact with as many churches, pastors, youth pastors, leaders as students to make sure Tyndale is on their radar. If you're interested in having a coffee or lunch, just e-mail me. I'd love to connect with you.

So that's where I am now.

He Might be on to Something

2011-03-23T15:20:00.002-04:00

In my attempt to stay informed about current trends and ideas, one thing I've done for the last while is have the latest blog postings from Seth Godin delivered to my inbox. While I will readily admit I file 90% of them into my "Read Later" file (who has the time to read everything?), I've been able to read a few more of them this last month and was intrigued by the idea he presented today. Here's a few quotes:

"More and more, we're finding it easy to get engaged with activities that feel like work, but aren't."

"One reason for this confusion is that we're often using precisely the same device to do our work as we are to distract ourselves from our work. The distractions come along with the productivity."

This rings true to me. I remember during the last half of my MBA I found that I was spending more and more time playing, surfing, etc on the computer when I should have been working. The result of course was that it took me twice as long to get the things done I needed to. This can happen too during work where I can get sucked into aimless surfing or reading online when I should be producing. I rationalized it at times as being a mind break, or a way to ease into the day. In the end though inevitably the time I take on "break" gets longer and my productivity decreases.

For me the "why" was pretty simple. In the case of the school and job distractions I was getting mentally and physically tired (of the routine and the effort required) and this type of behaviour was easy to zone out on. This was also a signal for me that my work-life balance is out of sync and that my energy needed to create and innovate was running low. I was chasing feeble sources during the wrong times to replace that energy with the result being the reduced productivity that Godin is writing about.

Here's the solution that Godin proposes:

"Simple but bold: Only use your computer for work. Real work. The work of making something.

Have a second device, perhaps an iPad, and use it for games, web commenting, online shopping, networking... anything that doesn't directly create valued output (no need to have an argument here about which is which, which is work and which is not... draw a line, any line, and separate the two of them. If you don't like the results from that line, draw a new line)."

Nice idea if you can afford it right? Let's not miss his key idea here though which is a good one. Draw the line somewhere. Find it, do it, and change it if necessary in order to make it work. Make some differentiation between what you need to do and what you want to do and whether it's an iPad, a second office space (my local Starbucks was the solution that worked for me), or something else unique to your context; make the changes necessary. My guess is that when the work-life balance starts to return, the difference between need and want will start to disappear and that most of what you end up doing will be work that makes something.

It makes sense to me.

Mr. Mom

2011-03-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

It's noon on Monday and our family's routine is in full force as if March break never existed. Truth be told we were fortunate enough to spend a great break away at a lodge just north of here with my parents. Check them out and give them some business.

But being that it's Monday now, in some ways it's like that week of respite never existed. At least it seems like a distant memory as Evan is back in school, Jonah eats his lunch, and Zoe is starting to stir from her nap. I've had the unique opportunity to occupy a different space the last few weeks in our family as I've been Mr. Mom to these guys. As many know, three weeks ago I left my position at St. Stephen's University and while I'm looking forward to starting a new position fairly soon (more details soon) the waiting period has demanded that I look after the kids during the day. It's been an interesting time as it's both been wonderful to be with them more yet challenging as my own patience and capabilities as a parent have been tested.

First of all let me say that I appreciate my wife and the gift she has for balancing a full-time job plus looking after the kids (and me of course) the way she does. I will never match her abilities in this area. In her heart of hearts I know she wishes it were her that got to stay home with the kids more but our financial situation and other things demand that she does what she does.

As I've said I love this time with them. I love watching them play and interact. I stink at cooking but I love making their lunches (usually with a phone call to Sarah for help) and I even don't mind the dirty diaper challenge. What I wrestle with is the ability to stay present and give them my full attention. There's always something else I'd rather be doing and I find myself there far too often. It's a bit of a guilt thing that I know is partially my own personality challenge and partially the expectation I feel to be doing something productive--which is wrong in itself as that implies that I don't think child care responsibilities are productive. An example from today is that Jonah really wants to play with me. Nothing specific, he just wants me to spend time with him. I've put him off for the morning with a promise of some time spent this afternoon but I as I sit here now and watch him eat I wonder what I did this morning that was so important?

Speaking of..lunch is done.

David Brooks: The social animal | Video on TED.com

2011-03-17T16:31:00.003-04:00

While I admit to having issues with the fact that watching/listening to TED talks seems to have become an academic elitist badge of honour, I'll be the first to say that I enjoyed this one.

Thoughts? Comments?

Enjoy...

The Possibility of Neither

2011-03-13T15:59:00.000-04:00

At church today, Ahren used a passage in Joshua 5 that has a really interesting dialogue between Joshua and what most scholars think is actually Jesus appearing in the form/name of the Commander of the Army of God.

¹³ Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” ¹⁴ “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”

This is such a fascinating encounter for many reasons let alone the fact that Joshua seems to have had a face to face encounter with the Son of God. That would be on my top three list I don't know about you. Looking at the context for a moment, we see that Joshua is just about to lead his people into something he knows will be life changing but full of risk and uncertainty. The stakes are higher than they've ever been.

Sound familiar? Can anyone relate? I know we've never likely led a nation to the promise land but in our context's we've likely been in many pressure-filled, fraught with risk situations right?

Joshua now confronted with this unknown presence reacts quite naturally. Perceiving a threat possibly to his entire mission he asks, "Who's side are you on? Are you with us or are you with our enemies?" Have you done something like this? When the stakes are high, it's easy for things to be boiled down in our perspective to friends and enemies. Either you're with us or you're not (sound familiar)? Either you're on the side of __________ (fill in the blank with the virtue or position of the moment) or your on the side of ____________ (fill in whatever the perceived opposite is).

Look at the response to Joshua's challenge. Instead of answering directly by taking sides, the answer given back is, "neither" and the Commander of God's army turns the exchange in a completely new direction that raises Joshua's perspective above the level of either/or and brings it instead into a plane or perspective not yet considered...and one that is inspired by the divine.

Leaving the spiritual principles aside for now, this is a good life lesson for those who aspire or are called to leadership. Rather than reducing the discussion to right or wrong, good or bad, or friend or enemy, we would be wise to strive to consider whether there's another way--a new level of perspective that would shed light new solutions. Instead of demanding conformity, what about encouraging creativity or innovation instead of seeing them as a threat? Is there a direction to your story that you haven't discovered yet because your perspective has been limited to a simple yes or no answer? What's the possibility of "neither" in your life or in your mission?

Sunday Sermon - The Beginning and The End

2011-03-07T10:52:00.001-05:00

Here's a rough transcript of my talk at church on Sunday. Again, the audio should be up soon if you keep checking the OVV website.

The Beginning and the End

Admittedly for many of us here at OVV, it has been a very hard last little while. There are many of us who are—and still will be mourning Rob Hall’s loss for quite some time. There are also others here who have suffered loss in their family. We’ve been praying for Sheila and the deaths in her family. As well we’ve been praying for Marie’s family and others too. Not too long ago we began to lift up Jimmy and Katy and their little boy Lucca who while the fact that he’s living is a miracle, still faces a very long recovery.

I don’t know about you but I had this moment early in the week where I was able to finally sit quietly for a moment, sigh deeply and ask God, “Where are you in all of this?” I then remembered a thought that had come to me the day I heard that Rob had died. In the midst of everything it had escaped me but God brought it back to me this week again. Bear with me as I set this up for you...I was remembering a few years ago when I read on Facebook of the death of a friend’s Father in a car accident and how I read the same day about another friend who had just given birth to her first child. I remember thinking how it was a fairly amazing coincidence but nothing more than that. Fast forward to the day I read my e-mail and heard about Lucca’s accident. As I was grieving for my friend that day and praying for his son’s healing I happened to read online that another friend of mine and her husband were celebrating the birth of their second child. Same day again....tragedy and new life. Finally fast forward to just over a week ago. As I walked through the numbness of the day we heard that Rob had died, I checked my Facebook that night to read the latest update from Jimmy to discover that his daughter Lexie had just been born...a miracle in itself considering how bad that accident had been. But here I was again looking at the beginning of one life and the end of another.

As I was asking God about this I remembered for some reason part of a Bible passage where God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” It was a meaningful moment to me just thinking, “Wow God’s really big.” but as I took the time to look up the passage (I had no idea where it actually was in the Bible) I began to see that this might be something that God wants to pass on to our community as we walk through our tough times together. Using the idea of beginnings and ends, the joy of new life and the pain of suffering...let’s look at it this morning. The passage is in Revelation chapter 21, verses 5-7.

As we see this passage comes almost at the end of John’s vision. Avoiding all end times theology debates for a moment, I think it’s safe to agree on the fact that John has been shown a dramatic picture of the last days. Whatever you think about how it will play out chronologically, we can see in the verses just before this passage that things will end with a new reality characterized by an intimate and direct connection to the almighty. But then getting into our passage for today we see a message of hope that begins to emerge that is just as relevant for the now as it will be for the last days. This is made all the more important and we can all the more be reassured as it is one of the few instances in the entire book of Revelation where God is speaking directly. Let’s unpack this a little bit.

We see right away in verse 5 that God directly pronounces, “I am making everything new.” Now one might think this directly refers to the New Jerusalem which would be true. But digging a little deeper, it’s worth noting that this is actually written in the present tense. What this means practically is that God isn’t just declaring, “I will make everything new.” There’s no inference that His renewing is solely a future event. Instead, this passage being written in a form that brings us to the conclusion that God is continually making things new in the here and now. Matthew Henry’s commentary tells us of this passage that:

“Christ makes all things new. If we are willing and desirous that the gracious Redeemer should make all things new in our hearts and nature, he will make all things new in respect of our situation, till he has brought us to enjoy complete happiness. See the certainty of the promise.”

All too often we forget about the certainty of this promise. Or maybe you’re like me and didn’t realize it was even there. Especially in the tough times it’s easy to lose track of God’s promise of continual renewal—instead often we see it as we look back. Whenever we see it, we see that God’s promise is active as He is at work bringing new life in the midst of tragedy, pain, and loss. This is a promise that we can hold onto and pray that this new work will be revealed to those that are suffering and that it will serve as a source of comfort for them.

Keeping going in this verse we see what Biblical scholars seem to think of as a kick in the pants to John. Their best guess is that John could have been overwhelmed at this moment (understandable) and that someone or something, gave him a nudge saying, “Hey pay attention and write this stuff down. This is the real thing that you’re hearing.”

It’s with the next verse that God establishes his true authority. With the words, I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,” he offers us his people the words of hope of a transcendent God or again as the commentaries put it, God who is the originator and completer of all things.

Let’s take a moment to step back though and look at this idea a little further. This passage about God being the Alpha and Omega actually ties back to an Old Testament name of God meaning “truth”. It originates from the passage in Exodus where God passed by Moses on Mount Sinai while he hid in the cleft of the rock. Moses’ response was to proclaim, “"Jehovah, Jehovah and merciful God, of long-suffering, and full of goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). The Hebrew word here for truth is Emeth which in Hebrew is spelled with three letters—the first and last letters being the first and last in the Hebrew alphabet. The Catholic Encyclopedia writes of this that:

“The Aleph and the Thaw are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet... Thus the term Emeth (truth) begins with the first letter of the alphabet and ends with the last. This led the Jewish sages to find in this word a mystical meaning. The Aleph or the first letter of Emeth (truth) denotes that God is the first of all things. There was no one before Him of whom He could have received the fullness of truth. The Thaw, or last letter, in like manner signifies that God is the last of all things. There will be no one after Him to whom He could bequeath it. Thus Emeth is a sacred word expressing that in God truth dwells absolutely and in all fullness.”

Moving to the New Testament, we find this idea of God being the first and last now connected to the idea of Him as the Alpha and Omega. It is a continuation of the principle of the completeness of God. As we all likely know the letters alpha and omega represent the first and last letters of the koine Greek language which was the language the New Testament was written in. God’s purpose for declaring himself in this form was as I’ve already hinted at, to proclaim his transcendence and dominion over all circumstances. It is an image that is inspirational and one can sustain us—God is present and in control at the beginning, the end, and at all points in between. This is a seal on the promises that He’s already made in that in everything, His renewing work is alive and active despite the fact that His purposes may not always be clear to us.

Keeping that thought in mind, God then continues in this verse by offering, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Again this speaks of renewal but in a different form this time. Instead of thinking of it in terms of creation, this time renewal is offered in the form of the refreshing of the spirit--the satisfying of our spiritual needs for as the commentaries again tell us, “...unless anyone feels a spiritual need, he will not seek satisfaction.” Again Henry’s commentary says of this passage:

“But the joys which Christ imparts are like waters springing from a fountain, pure, refreshing, abundant, and eternal. The sanctifying consolations of the Holy Spirit prepare for heavenly happiness; they are streams which flow for us in the wilderness.”

We seek these waters at the beginning as we celebrate new life but this speaks to us in particular as we wrestle through the pain of loss and suffering and the confusion that comes with it. As we drink the water offered to us, we are renewed and brought back to life. Literally the meaning of the word life in this passage means motion or activity. We’re awakened out of our coma—the fog that can come at times like this and slowly but surely put back in motion with the strength to be active once more.

Finally we have a similar promise as the beginning of the chapter. This time though it’s a direct statement that as we are renewed—we will overcome. As we overcome we are promised a special relationship to the supreme ruler of all. He will be our God and we will be his sons and daughters. How amazing is that really?

I hope this has been helpful looking at this passage. It’s a comfort and it brings hope to me that in three verses we see the promise that in all things good and bad God is in control. He’s there at the beginning of life, with us through the tragedy and the struggles, and He is there at the end. He is continuing his renewing work on the earth and inside each one of us and that he makes available to us a source of strength that can put us back on our feet and moving forward. Finally as we began, so we end this talk with the promise of a closeness to God that is unprecedented. It’s there for us just in these three little verses. As many of us are walking through the shadows...and most of us will at some point, I hope and pray that these verses find meaning to you and give you life and hope in the midst of it all. Let’s pray.

New Blog - Creating Little Monsters

2011-03-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

I just discovered that my sister in law, Erin is a blogger. Check out her site here. Love the title!

She can write too...

We do this Together

2011-03-01T16:52:00.000-05:00

This week, my brother in law, Ahren Summach posted this on the Facebook page put up to remember our friend Rob Hall.

The beauty of what's been happening on this site it that we're all getting to eulogize Rob. Western culture is OK at grieving but terrible at mourning, which is the public expression of that grief. FB has given us a massive five day memorial service that EVERYONE gets to lead. We are healed and Rob is honoured as our pain is expressed and his story is told. Something very very special is happening here. Lead on Rev. Everyone!

This has been on my mind as well the last week or so since we learned of Rob's death. What we've witnessed on this site is stories, poems, blogs, and memories coming in from all corners of the globe all paying tribute to the life Rob led and the legacy he left behind. The emotions have almost been as real at times at least in my experience as if the person writing them was in the room with me. Many, many tears have been shed over keyboards and slowly piece by piece hope is being restored as we collectively read about the impact of a live well lived.

To see this all happen online has been amazing to me. Ahren's right in that it has been like we've all had the chance to lead a memorial service for Rob. Another analogy that I was thinking about was that what we're experiencing through the Facebook page and the corresponding website is that we've all been able to attend the wake for our friend. These platforms have given us all a safe place to crack open our favorite beverage, turn on our computers, and tell the stories and share the memories of our life with Rob. I especially love how after each story told, there are usually countless comments and likes. It's like we're all nodding our heads in agreement with some offering a word of encouragement in response that keeps the thread going.

One other thought is that these platforms give us instant community when we need it the most. Whether we knew Rob a little or even not all--or whether he was our best friend (he seemed to have a lot of them...lucky guy) we're not alone in our grief. The God-inspired strength that rises from our shared experience is what will allow us to eventually heal. Barriers and boundaries have been removed and we all are able to do this together.

Legacy

2011-02-25T12:46:00.000-05:00

Rob Hall was a friend of mine. He was someone who I met for the first time about 10 years ago as I married into what I soon discovered was a close circle of family and friends (including the Hall family). Over time as I got to know him better I discovered that Rob was a man of quality, great faith, and adventure. He was someone that would make time to connect whether in passing conversation during visits or holidays or over a coffee or a pint when I was traveling through his town. I've been thinking these last few days of my conversations with Rob and...if I can sum them up...that there was an element of holy unsatisfaction to them. I'm not even sure if that makes sense but it's the best I can come up with.

It's like he always knew there was more out there. More potential, more opportunities, more ways to be innovative and creative, more ways to serve...the list could go on and on. Hearing about his plans for this trip and then following along on his blog terrified me but at the same time filled me with awe and a more than a little bit of envy. He he was...selling everything and following the call of God to serve Him and discover Him in some of the most beautiful and challenging places on earth. Better yet he was doing this with the people he loved most...his family. He was driven by this holy unsatisfaction and discovering the more that many or most of us will never know.

...and then we get the news

In trying to make sense of all of this now I've been thinking about the legacy that Rob has left. I read the tributes pouring in from those who loved him. The encounters, the stories, the moments in time that we're all grasping for as we remember him. What a powerful gift.

Thank you God.

The greatest thing about a legacy is that it never has to end. So now it's our turn as this holy unsatisfaction has been passed from Rob to us. This hunger to discover the more that is out there is now ours to take and to run with. What will you do with it?

But what about the pain?

What about Kate's pain? What about the kids? What about the pain of the Hall family and the Cantelons? What about the pain of my family and friends? What about my pain? Where's the legacy there?

Right now I don't know. This is a story to be continued...that I have no doubt. A small answer perhaps was found for me in how much over the last few days, I find myself taking the time to hug my kids more and be thankful for my family. It's cliche I know but looking at them, enjoying them, and being thankful for the gift of their lives is what helps me deal with the heavy heart I carry around. Legacy...

Thanks Rob.

Sometimes There are no Words

2011-02-22T17:12:00.000-05:00

My heart and the hearts of many of my family and friends are broken this afternoon as we've heard about the sudden death of our friend Rob Hall. He was a follower of Christ so we know he is now in the arms of the Father but we weep and we mourn because on earth he was also a friend, a son, a husband, and a father.

Please pray for his wife Kate, their three kids, the Hall and Cantelon family, and the many, many who know and love them.

Revolution

2011-02-22T14:04:00.000-05:00

Click on the link for an interesting article on one author's insights into the common threads he sees linking the revolutions that are taking place around the world. Feel free to comment below.

Sunday Musings - Why is it important for us as believers to think about leadership

2011-02-22T12:18:00.004-05:00

So for the first time in a very long time, I've gave the talk at OVV on Sunday. It was by no means brilliant I'm sure but what I tried to do is give a few very brief reasons why I think we as Christians need to think about the topic of leadership. Here's a slightly edited text of what I said or in a few days come back and click on the link and the audio should be there.

A major part of my journey over the last three years has been working on and completing an MBA where the focus of my study was in the area of leadership development. Now why would I do something like that you ask? Anyone who is tuned into popular Christian or contemporary culture will know pretty quickly that “leadership” has become a trendy if not overused topic to teach on. There are many self-professed leadership experts out there who are filling social media, the Internet with their pithy blog posts and idioms, not to mention the trees they are killing with their latest book which is often just a slightly different version of the same theme. The reason I spent 3+ years studying about leadership principles, theories, and ideas is because I wanted to push deeper past the point which culture often blindly accepts as truth and dig deep into the concept. I can now speak the secular language expected of me and likely would be able to walk into any boardroom and give a talk that would inspire an organization. More importantly than that though I wanted to integrate this study with my Christian faith in hopes that what I uncover over time will lead us as believers to a real, tangible and easily accessible paradigm that we as the church can use to change people’s lives and in very real sense, change the world. Big hopes and dreams I know....but something that I believe is important and possible. I’m tired of being told to follow the latest trend or thought guru of the day. What I really want...what my heart’s desire is, is for each and every member of the church to discover their own call to leadership, understand it, be comfortable with it, and move forward in it knowing that God is with them every step of the way.

So where to start? How do we as a church tackle the question of whether or not we actually do have a calling to leadership? If the answer is yes or if it’s no, what are the important questions to ask? I think a few of these questions might be:

- How do we lead?

- Does the calling to lead exist and if so what does it mean to be a leader?

- Why is it important?

For my talk today I want to focus on the third one and eventually work my way back. I want to look at a few quick ideas about why it’s important for us as Christians to think about this topic in the first place? Why is the idea of leadership important to us and to our impact on our community and our culture for the Kingdom of God? My hope is that this will serve as an overview and set the groundwork for a journey of discovery for you. Let’s take a look now at three quick points. I think it’s important for us to think about leadership because:

1. We could be called at any time.

2. There’s no expectation of perfection.

3. It’s what we’re uniquely suited to do.

1. We could be called at any time

This is an easy one. There’s clear evidence in Scripture that God likes to drop the call to leadership on his people at the strangest times, at the strangest places, and in the strangest ways. In my mind this makes leadership an important thing to think about because...well...we’d better be ready. Let’s look quickly three stories—one from the old testament and a couple from the new.

David – Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13

If you think about this for a moment, look how crazy this is. One of the most significant leaders in the Old Testament...not to mention one of the greatest Kings of Israel was called as a boy to his leadership position from his job looking after his family’s sheep. One moment he’s up in the hills going about his day and the next he’s the next King of Israel.

The Disciples – Read Luke 5:1-11, 27-28

Here’s Jesus himself telling us, hey get ready people. Your call to lead could happen at any time. As he’s beginning his ministry he literally calls his disciples into leadership by jumping into one of their fishing boats as they’re about to push off to work for the day. A mind-blowing miracle doesn’t hurt either to prove he’s serious. Even better than that, Matthew, the tax collector was just minding his booth, taking money from the people and likely worried that this crowd approaching him was going to lynch him. Instead the a man emerges from the pack and says, “Hey Matthew..come follow me.” ...and he enters into leadership, and his life is changed forever.

Paul – Read Acts 9:1-5

So in this case, not only was Paul called out of the blue...off his donkey with the blinding light and the literal voice of God. This was not a friend of the church. Nonetheless, God call to leadership blew the doors off of everything and in a moment—after hearing the direct voice of called Paul to a life of leadership that changed world.

Paul’s calling to leadership transitions well into our next point which is:

2. There’s no expectation of perfection

For some reason, I think a lot of us have this impossible expectation that leaders must be faultless and blameless whether before God or before man. We put our leaders up on the proverbial pedestal along with our hopes and trust and then are devastated when they reveal themselves to be human. Perhaps even more tragic though is that we have carried around this expectation ourselves that we’re never going to be a leader because we’ve got too many faults or we’ve screwed up too many times and now in God’s eyes we’ve lost our chance.

We think this yet we see that the leaders in the Bible were a bunch of screw ups time and time again. I won’t take the time to go into detail but we know the things that David did. We know the mistakes of the disciples and think about Paul for a moment. Did those mistakes disqualify them from leadership? Not a chance.

This principle may be one of the most refreshing things that in my mind makes the idea of leadership something important for us as believers to think about. God in his mercy doesn’t call his leaders to be perfect. What he asks of us is to simply show a willing heart to learn and grow with him and in him. The revivalist John Wesley used to ask a simple question to all the lay leaders that would serve with him during his famous missions. He would ask, “Are you going on to perfection?” This is an interesting question isn’t it as it highlights an important shift that we should maybe make in our thinking. Dr. Steve Manskar writes that:

“The people who did nearly all the pastoral ministry in the Methodist societies were lay men and women. They lead the class meetings and societies in prayer, hymn singing, Bible study, and teaching. They visited the sick and the prisoners. They lead the Methodists in the work of feeding the hungry, clothing the ill-clad, and medicine to the sick. Lay preachers proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to the poor and working people across Britain and America. Lay stewards managed the finances and property of the local societies. John Wesley asked all these “helpers” the question: “Are you going on to perfection.

Notice that the question is not “Are you perfect?” Rather, Wesley expected that leaders be persons who were cooperating with the work of grace in them by faith in Christ. People who know Jesus and seek to conform their lives to his, are best suited to lead others toward faith in Christ. Those who follow in the way of Jesus are best suited for the work of caring for souls and leading others to the life of salvation. They are suited to the work of Christian leadership because they are going on to perfection.

Wesley defined perfection as “love [seated] upon the throne which is erected in the inmost soul; namely, love of God and [humankind], which fills the whole heart, and reigns without a rival”. It is the “holy tempers” formed in the soul: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Women and men who have faith in Christ and are going on to perfection are the ones the church looks for and needs as leaders at all levels, clergy and lay.”

So here’s what this says to me. It says that yes leaders are accountable for their actions but that it is their heart that God looks at first. When God sees a willing heart, he sees a leader. God doesn’t expect perfection from us because it is a state that is unattainable here on earth. What he asks us for instead is that we take on the journey towards the perfection that is, “...the love of God formed in the fruit of the spirit.” This type of love flows from a pure and honest heart that understands that to lead is to walk in the grace and mercy of God.

Leadership is important friends because now without the expectation of immediate perfection, this means that we’re all qualified.

3. It’s what we’re uniquely suited to do.

In kind of a closing thought, my belief again is that leadership is important for us as believers to consider because it is something at we are uniquely suited to do. In Esther chapter four, there’s a moment where Mordecai is pleading to Esther as Queen to intercede to King Xerxes to avoid a wholesale slaughter of the Jews living in Persia at the time. Despite her position as Queen, she too was a Jew and would face certain death should she reveal herself and needless to say, she was petrified. Mordecai calls her to lead in this moment with a statement that is so profound I think in its simplicity. In verse 14 he finishes by saying, “...Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this." I love this as Mordecai seems to be saying to Esther...God has called you to lead. He has and raised you up for this moment.”

Christian philosopher, Parker Palmer writes that, “The spiritual traditions all strive to penetrate the illusions of the external world and to name its underlying truth—what it is, how it emerges, and how we relate to it.” Looking at this for a moment, I believe it’s important for us as believers to think about leadership because we have and understanding of the truth that makes us uniquely suited to lead in our community and in our culture. Simply put I believe because the spirit of God that lives inside of us, we have been given unique perspective that others simply don’t have access to. We have the gifts and the insight that inspirited by God, will break through the barriers that the world puts up. We are uniquely suited to lead.

Finally, Vaclav Havel, former President of Czechoslovakia said once in an address to the US congress, “The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness, and in human responsibility.” To me this is a call to those of us in the church to consider leadership. With the truth that we know, if we as believers aren’t uniquely suited to this, who is?

Yeah I know what day it is...and I don't care.

2011-02-14T12:35:00.000-05:00

First off let me say I love my wife.

I've never been very good at celebrating these Hallmark holidays as I have a hard time getting past seeing them as a blatant attempt to get us to spend our money. At the same time I am grateful for Sarah and love that she's been able to put up with me for the past 10 years without doing me serious bodily harm.

What shine this day did have though for me fell away though three years ago today when during a blinding snowstorm we took out oldest son Evan to CHEO to discover that our worst fears were confirmed and he was indeed type-1 diabetic. It's been three years since of fighting this disease tooth and nail having mostly very good days but also some very bad ones. It's been three years of my heart breaking for my boy when he asks at first innocently then with more and more resignation, "Will I always have diabetes Daddy?"

I am fiercely proud of my son Evan. He has matured more than I could have ever imagined over these last three years, much of which I'm sure is because he's being forced to deal with an incredible burden at such a young age. He's an amazing, thoughtful, and compassionate boy who is learning about life and hopefully discovering that amidst the frustrations and the occasional setbacks, that God deeply loves him and has great plans for him to change the world.

So as far as Valentine's Day goes, you can have it. It's days like this where the best I can do is throw up my hands to heaven and say, "I have no idea how to do this Lord...please take care of him." This is not a happy day for me but yet I have to move forward. While I'm not sure on one hand whether I've ever really fully recovered emotionally from the impact of that day, deep down I think I'm still hopeful....I have to be. I owe Evan that much at least.

Hmmm....I feel the urge again

2010-08-19T21:43:00.000-04:00

I'm starting to feel the urge to put up a post or two here again after much time away from Chicken and Fries. I've been mourning the voice of creativity in my life lately...more than usual I should actually say. Life has me in a million different directions and I feel like I haven't put together an independent original thought for months--maybe years.

Stay tuned...

Hello Birdie

2009-04-01T15:05:00.002-04:00

So as you maybe can tell by new feature on your left, I've joined the Twitter Nation. Why? I'm not quite sure yet but with the lack of creative brain-space I've been experiencing lately I'm finding it a lot easier to post 140 character thoughts than blog.

Not to say chickenandfries is no more. This space will remain for the longer diatribes that cross my consciousness.

However.....

For slightly more frequent bursts of not-so-intelligent musings stay tuned to the feed here or even better search for tkantel at Twitter and follow me there.

What does this say?

2009-02-17T13:54:00.002-05:00

I've been to way too many conferences!

Milton

2009-01-29T09:35:00.002-05:00

It's been snowing here a lot lately...such is life in the Ottawa Valley in winter.

Milton lives next door to us. I think he's retired. A very nice guy who spends most of his days puttering and shooting the breeze with his neighbors.

Without fail after every snowfall he starts up his snow blower and does his driveway and then ours.

He just finished now. It's garbage day today and I noticed he even moved our garbage cans and recycling box.

I always say thanks but I wonder if there's something else I could do to thank him. I wonder though if that would embarrass him as I suspect that he's the type of guy who likes to help out without the attention.

I appreciate him and what he does.

Thanks Milton!

A Timeless Principle

2009-01-22T13:43:00.004-05:00

So I woke up this morning and thought sleepily, "Well I'll wear these socks one more time before I throw them out." Imagine my surprise when I get to the building my morning meeting is at and I'm warmly welcomed with the message, "We're asking everyone to take their shoes off so the wet boots don't ruin our floors."

There you have it folks. Me spending 2 hours this morning trying to come up with non-weird looking ways to sit with the soles of my feet together. Honest to goodness I was walking up the stairs at one point and looked back to see the woman starting at my socks.

Such is my life....

Reflective Travel

2009-01-13T10:19:00.003-05:00

I found this post at the blog of a student at SSU right now. I got to know Ray as we worked together along the journey of him deciding if he was going to come to study with us and from what I got to know of him and what I've heard of his time at school, I would say he is a deep and reflective thinker with a genuine heart.

This post to me is a wonderful reflection of the value behind the travel study terms we do at SSU.

Enjoy!

Rules Schmules

2009-01-13T09:56:00.003-05:00

Author's note: As I read through this I realize this may be one of the most boring posts I've ever done so far. If you choose not to read any further check out this link here for something far more interesting.

Happy holidays to everyone! I've started my next MBA class this week and imagine my surprise to find out I had an essay due at the end of week 1. I know I really should suck it up as it is a graduate program and all but doesn't something seem inherently wrong with that? It's like when the teacher gave you homework on the first day of school. A natural law has been broken.

Perhaps one of my biggest struggles with this program so far has been how to write an essay that conforms to the expectations of the program. Perhaps it's because I'm an Arts major writing a business paper (an paradox if there ever was one in my estimation) but I consistently struggle as I feel like my ideas and creativity are being stifled and I end up spending more time making my work follow the rules than crafting the actual content.

...stupid APA!

Is it a good discipline? Yes I know, understand, and even agree with the reasoning behind needing to conform your work according to a reasonable expectation but bottom line, the balance seems out of whack.

Grace Giver

2008-12-16T09:52:00.001-05:00

My friend and colleague Joel Mason at The Herb of Grace has been sending out daily meditations over the Advent Season which have been quite good. Today's in particular resonated with me.

The Herb Of Grace

Tuesday, December 16th in the season of Advent

Posted: 15 Dec 2008 08:05 PM CST

Christmas is a time ripe with stress, so be a grace-giver to those in your family. Resolve to pray for God’s kingdom to come everyday, for a revealing of Jesus to those who don’t know his love, for the turkey to turn out well, for authentic and loving relationships to be built, for no-one to get hurt in snow football this year. You see, all these things are in His kingdom, every breath of life is His.

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light. To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!” Amen.

Why I'm Not Against The Coalition

2008-12-03T20:01:00.005-05:00

I voted Conservative last election but here's why I don't have a problem with the concept of what's happening right now in Canadian Politics.

1. It is legal.
2. Even though we may never think it will happen, it is an acceptable (although not necessarily popular) move within the parliamentary system within which we choose to operate.
3. Every party (including the Conservatives) have tried something like this in the past whether we knew about it or not...including partnering with the Bloc.

So while I think this does nothing for the images of our leaders, or the benefit of our nation; as Canadians we are a part of this system and unless it is changed at some point, we need to be content this letting it play out.

The good thing though is that we still are all entitled to the freedom to voice our opinions.

Kantel Ministry Report

2008-11-24T14:36:00.004-05:00

Here's the latest from Dad and Mom in Mozambique. I'll throw a personal appeal in here as well that if you considered even giving a small financial contribution to their work it would be greatly appreciated.

Pemba, Mozambique

November 22, 2008

Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,

The focus of this Ministry Report is harvest—natural and supernatural. I know it’s a little late in the year for Canadians to be thinking about harvest, but harvest is our year-round focus here in Mozambique, both spiritual and material. In fact, as we were preparing to come to Pemba in 2005, we registered harvestinafrica as our email address as a declaration of our purpose for being here!

The Harvest…Down on the Farm

Our children’s village and wider ministry into the whole Mieze community continue to be a source of much spiritual fruit. But part of what brings delight to the 40 resident kids in the “Village of Love” these days is enjoying the fruit of their patience and labors in our farming projects. For example, we currently have a fourth cycle of 400 meat chickens about halfway to table-ready. And that’s a harvest that is now eagerly anticipated by these young farmers for whom a chicken dinner is the best reward imaginable.

We’ve also been feeding and caring for 80 laying hens which arrived as day-olds six months ago. Six months is an eternity in a culture where planning and working for the future is a rarity. But right on schedule, the first eggs appeared a couple of weeks ago. The kids were so excited and couldn’t wait to show them to me. Several hundred eggs later the kids are still excited to retrieve every egg that’s laid. They love hard-boiled eggs and are gradually being introduced to other egg dishes. Eggs for food are a rare luxury in rural Mozambique and our kids and staff are very thankful for the blessing of God they are experiencing through this bounteous harvest.

A few weeks ago, one of our young goat-herders came to me with a serious expression and told me about something that had happened to one of our goats. He used a Portuguese word I didn’t recognize. Searching for a clue to what he was saying I asked, “How did that happen?” He gave me a puzzled look and walked away. I later learned that the first of our goats was pregnant!

We bought very young goats last March; and after eight months of looking after them, they are now reaching maturity. That will mean baby goats, milk, and much-coveted goat meat in the weeks ahead. More harvest! The new baby kid was born Friday night—black and white like its mother. When we arrived for the Saturday children’s program, the Mieze kids were so excited to tell us the news and we got to visit the new family together.

And on our 40-acre Mieze farm, the mango harvest is just beginning. We have over 50 large mango trees laden with delicious fruit, and this harvest will continue for about three months. A church in Ontario recently took a special offering to “buy” the yield from the farm during this harvest time so we could give it away instead of having to sell it. So we’re now supplying quantities of mangos to hundreds of Mieze children through the church, as well as providing mangoes for kids at the Pemba Base and the adjacent Noviane project.

And we have just begun to divide the open farmland into half-acre plots for assignment to church families to grow produce for food for their families and to sell. A portion of what they harvest will also be given to the church for distribution to the poor and for use in the children’s village. This “church co-op” will be an interesting farming experiment. And we look forward to many kinds of harvest resulting in the months ahead!

The Harvest…Spiritual Bounty

The Iris Pemba Base is surrounded by nearly 50,000 poor villagers…almost all of whom would call themselves Muslims. One of our challenges over the past few years has been to develop effective ways of reaching villagers—and especially village kids—with tangible expressions of the love of God. We’ve had various kinds of food programs but hadn’t been able to combine these very effectively with Christian content until recently.

Our Christian primary school has been our first successful sustained effort. About 580 village kids attended this past year in addition to about 130 resident Iris kids…and we had to turn some village kids away due to overcrowding. Now we’ve added three more classrooms for the new school year which begins in late-January.

In the past few months, we have begun a daily program of Bible teaching, stories, games and a hot meal for village kids. This is a high-energy program (conducted mostly in the Makua tongue) involving many staff and helpers each day for an hour and a half; and we’re now getting close to 600 kids out every day! Many have already accepted the Lord, are praying, and are even having visions of Jesus! More and more of these kids are also now coming regularly to our Pemba church services, where we’ve also just begun to have a separate children’s hour. Then we feed 800 or more children plus hundreds of adults every Sunday following church.

We’ve recently been training leaders from Mieze to run a similar village children’s program there…as a Saturday-only program. The past two Saturdays were our first for this new program. It was attended by over 300 children the first week and over 350 this week! I don’t know who enjoys it more: the kids or the leaders! The first week, we had prepared rice and beans to serve 150; and yet all 300 or more received a full serving. God seems to like doing that for these precious Mieze kids!! Mieze Pastor Juma thinks we could easily have 600 or more kids coming regularly to such a program. However, we don’t have covered space for more right now…and won’t have until our new church and community building is ready for use in about four months. We’re going to call this new program the “Bandeira Club.” Bandeira is the Portuguese name for the giant Baobab trees that are common in this region. But it also means “banner”; and the Mieze kids sing a song that says, Sou a bandeira…I am the banner (that proclaims Jesus’ love)!

And finally…after many months of planning and praying it looks like we may be about to acquire some property on Ibo Island to begin our next major project. This will be a challenging new initiative for many reasons. We’ll write more about this in our next Report.

For information and pictures describing the “Mieze Model” for village transformation please see http://web.mac.com/kantels And for pictures and updates on the new adaptation of the Mieze Model in Noviane village, please see http://www.irismin.ca/nmohsp

Sowing and Reaping…

We all love to see the harvest; but many biblical passages remind us that harvest depends on faithful sowing and watering. The sowing that’s bringing the harvests described above includes the prayer and personal financial support that enable us to be ministering here in northern Mozambique as your partners in this harvest. Our personal support has been very low throughout 2008…frequently less than $1,000/month. In the mercy of God, the harvest is out of proportion to what has been sown to date; but our needs have to be met for us to continue this wonderful work. Personal as well as project support can be directed through Iris Ministries Canada for tax receipts. Please see their website for details at http://irismin.ca

With continued love and appreciation,

Don & Elizabeth

When things are no longer constant

2008-10-30T17:12:00.002-04:00

I understand very little about what's happening in the world today. Politics, economics, etc...the more I learn, the less I realize I truly know. But the interesting thing is that I don't think I'm out of the ordinary on this. In fact I actually wonder if most of the systems we operate in are based on people's best guess on what might work the best.

This is why I've been finding the latest economic crisis fascinating. I know very little about how our system works but I am interested in trying to figure it out. I try and listen to the people on intelligent programs (Anderson Cooper and NPR...I know...I'm so hip) give their best takes on what's going on. I've had some fascinating discussions with my colleagues in a few of my MBA courses so far and gained some insight there. Nothing though was as revealing as being in downtown Toronto for some meetings a while ago and listening to people who were truly affected by what's happening. Based on all of this, here's what I'm seeing.

Many of the systems that we base our day to day existence on are really a series of ideas and theories that once accepted and integrated become second-nature or something we never even take the time to consider. What happens then when that house of cards starts to fall or in this context collapse almost completely? What I'm seeing is that this collapse is shaking the foundational values of not just our systems of government but also the core beliefs of the leaders we rely on to shepherd us through these systems. These people are dealing with foundational existential crises of belief and aren't sure what to do about it. People who are used to speculating are now living day to day. What they knew as constant is now uncertain and its rocking them to the core. This is more than just a broken system...this is a crisis of belief.

My question is what's next? Who or what will help bring these people back to health and begin to repair this mess? Where does the church fit into all this?

Where did I go?

2008-10-02T09:36:00.002-04:00

I've been debating what to do with this blog for a while now. At one point it was a good creative outlet and I enjoyed writing down my thoughts and ideas for the world to see. Now though, since I find life has gone up at least a gear if not two, I find less creative space in the surprisingly small brain of mine to post. I wonder often if should I put Chicken and Fries on hiatus until such a time where I have the creative space to post something somewhat intelligent or should I just stay the course and post sporadically?

It's not that I don't think anymore or have ideas, hopes, dreams, visions. In fact I dare say that when those do appear they tend to be more radical and formed than ever. They are frustratingly fleeting though and of the nature quite honestly that I'm not sure that I want them to be available for the world to see. Some things should remain private.

So where to go from here?

There is a contemplative in all of us,
almost strangled but still alive,
who craves quiet enjoyment of the Now,
and longs to touch the seamless garment of silence which makes whole.

Alan P. Tory

as taken from the morning prayer office of the Northumbria Community.

Quotes

2008-08-14T10:36:00.002-04:00

So Sarah and I are not habitual swearers by any means but as life takes you through its ups and downs, an occasional bad word has been known to slip out. Having kids though has made us extra-careful though about what we say as they're both at the age where they will repeat anything they hear us say. As a result we've modified even further our exclamations around the kids so we don't hear them coming back to us in some unfortunate scenario.

The other night we were at Wal-Mart and Evan (who is type-1 diabetic as most of you know) ran past the cart I was pushing and somehow hurt his finger by getting it caught as he was heading past. I saw this happen and before I could even ask him if he was ok, he held his finger and exclaimed, "SUGAR FREE!!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night I was helping Evan get ready for bed and as only boys can do, we were discussing the big poop he just had.

Me: "So did you just go poop?"

Evan: "Yeah, it was a really big poop."

Me: "Oh yeah? It was a really big poop eh?"

Evan: "Yeah...but not bigger than God."

The Imaginal Mind

2008-07-21T14:54:00.002-04:00

“Leaders who want to discover new markets or radically transform their industries or perhaps test their own mettle need to explore uncharted waters. They need to sail into the imagination. That used to be reserved for artists and actors and writers, but it cannot be their sole province anymore. Leaders need to think and act not just out of the box, but out of the ballpark. Some already recognize this need and are searching out the tools of the imaginal mind.”

Harriet Rubin - The New Merchants of Light

Leader To Leader, No. 10, Fall 1998

- The connection to the arts here is something we should be paying attention to.

Inner Work in Community

2008-07-02T12:44:00.003-04:00

"In a beautiful little book called Letters to a Young Poet, the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke has a definition of love that still astounds me. "Love is this--that two solitudes border, protect, and salute one another." This is the essence of being together in inner work. It avoids the invasive and violent notions that are in our culture of getting i there and fixing each other up. It affirms the possibility of being present to a person's solitude, a person's mystery, while that deep inner work goes on."

Taken from Leading from Within by Parker J. Palmer as found in Insights on Leadership, edited by Larry C. Spears.

Lightning Strike

2008-06-26T19:56:00.007-04:00

So we had one of those crazy storms blow by this afternoon with torrential rain, wind, thunder and lightning. Sarah and I were in the basement working and Jonah was asleep and it was looking like it was blowing over when all of a sudden...BOOM!!!!!!!

It was like a movie pyrotechnic went off out the window. We run upstairs top speed as Jonah is howling. Lightning touched down in our yard and we thought it was the dead tree at the back maybe...We run up to Jonah's room and Sarah looks out the window and sees that...

Lightning has struck our back porch!!!

As far as we can figure we think it hit the hook that was holding up the old clothesline that we don't use (and that had mostly fallen down).

Check out the pics...

New Blog - Travel Potential

2008-06-06T13:39:00.010-04:00

I have never done this before so I'm just going to put it out there...

I've signed up with a network marketing group and wanted to let my Chicken and Fries readers about it. Rather than tell the whole story here, take a moment to check out the new blog I've set up which will serve as a launching point/information center for this new initiative.

If you have any questions after you've gone through it and looked at my website, e-mail me at the new e-mail I've set up specifically for this.

travel.potential@gmail.com

Please note: This new initiative is in no way tied or connected to my work at St. Stephen's University, Ottawa Valley Vineyard of any of the other groups I'm involved with. It it purely a personal venture on my part.

Stuff Christians Like

2008-05-05T13:31:00.004-04:00

I think I'm late to the game (as usual) in finding this blog but I highly recommend it. For those of us who have been around the church scene for a long time, this guy nails the oddness of the culture we travel in.

Very insightful and very funny!

I apologize to any of you who take this stuff seriously...well sort of.

Worth a Listen

2008-04-22T11:52:00.003-04:00

If you're the podcast-listening type I recommend downloading this one. It offers great but different perspectives from three evangelical voices in the (US) Church. So who comes out sounding the best in your opinion?

Profound

2008-04-03T16:10:00.001-04:00

"Everything is going backwards when it should be going forwards."

- Evan trying to describe to us that he is feeling dizzy.

Mind the Gap

2008-03-03T09:13:00.003-05:00

I had a thought the other day...

I use the image quite a bit of bridging the gap...you know between Christianity and culture, ministry and marketplace, blah blah blah.

It says in the Bible that we've somehow got access to a faith that can move mountains so instead of building a bridge why don't we just move the two sides together so there's no gap in the first place?

or....

instead of building a bridge we should instead focus on filling in the middle so the gap disappears.

The uniting idea is that instead of two sides, there becomes one whole.

What do you think?

Just a thought...

2008-02-29T00:51:00.001-05:00

Public Prayer:

Is it supposed to be poetic language with eloquent words....

Or is it a conversation with our best friend?

Chill

2008-02-02T16:29:00.000-05:00

The other night I was up quite late reading. When it finally came time to finish up and go to sleep I let the dog out one final time as I usually do and was struck with a chill as I stepped outside my house into the very cold winter night. As I went back inside I was struck with a feeling of sadness that there were people who didn't have a warm house to step back into that night.

I'm thankful for God's grace and provision.

I know that there's no real difference between someone who slept in the cold that night and me.

I'm so thankful....

I can't stop thinking about that chill.

God's MBA

2008-01-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope your holidays went well and you're looking forward to 2008.

Again I'm sorry that I'm averaging a post a month these days but as I've said before life is just incredibly packed and I find that often when I do have a spare moment, I'm tapped out of creative thought and have nothing coherent to write. Oh well. I realize I may have lost a few readers along the way but for those of you who check in, thanks for sticking with Chicken and Fries.

WARNING: These thoughts may ramble and sound somewhat disconnected at times. If that bothers you I apologize in advance but a blog isn't an essay so perfection isn't required.

My thought this morning comes from a couple of recent events. I've just begun my second course in my MBA in Quality Leadership and am again finding myself engaged and motivated by the materials so far. A good sign by the way as I have a relatively short attention span and would have dropped this whole thing long ago if it was in any way boring or unmotivating. It's been a long journey deciding to start my studies again and then choosing a program that fit what I was looking for. I've always sensed that God was weaving his purposes into this journey as I traveled it as well. My life so far has been the proverbial puzzle in some way...as He's putting it together piece by piece. I've never been one of those persons to see the big picture of what I'm to be all about and although it's taken me lots of years I'm more or less ok with that now.

I was at a gathering last night of Christian Businessmen and heard a guy give a talk on how he's been challenged to transform his business along the lines of Kingdom principles. He was using a well known book as his source and told a great story of the journey God brought him through to the point where he realized that what he was doing was far more than making a profit...although there's nothing the matter with that. God had also given him the chance to minister in marketplace that many don't have. To do that he had to make his business God's business. Now on some levels I realize that's a bit of a cliche line but at that moment my thoughts spun off to my studies and my life up to this point and I wondered, "Have I made my MBA God's MBA?"

Cheesy and cliche thought I know but I couldn't shake it for the rest of the night. I woke up thinking about it this morning as well and lay in bed for a few minutes thinking about this whole puzzle analogy and realizing that although I had maybe mentally acknowledged that God's purposes were in me doing my MBA, I had never truly said them out loud and acknowledged that to him.

As I've said this is a bit of a rambling dialogue so there's no real end to this story. All I know to this point is that this morning I said to God, "This MBA is your MBA Lord. I ask you to connect it in with my life so far and make it all about your purposes whatever that is. I ask that you weave it into the directions you're taking me and use it to serve you and your Kingdom in whatever way that means."

That's all I've got so far but it feels right and actually feels kind of huge. We'll see.

Christmas Thought

2007-12-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

Instead of wishing I could buy things for my family that that I can't afford. Instead of wishing I could do things for my family that I can't do. Instead of feeling like Christmas is a great big stressful burden...

....I will be thankful.

Confession

2007-12-11T17:19:00.001-05:00

I had this moment of incredible revelation the other day that I wanted to share with the world.

Are you ready?

Listen carefully...

I like jazz music! There I said it and it feels great. This is something that I've been wanting to confess for a while now and to finally say it out loud...what a relief!

I found myself asking Sarah an odd question the other day. "I really like jazz music (I realize that's a statement for all of you out there thinking that)...so what does that make me?"

..."So what does that make me?" Why on earth would I ask that? I am really a novice at discovering the many layers that this genre offers but I think every type of music maybe carried along an unspoken expectation of who or what the listener is supposed to look, sound, or feel like. Who imposes those expectations? Maybe the listener. Maybe culture as a whole. Think about your favorite style or genre of music though and figure out how quickly an associated stereotype attaches itself to it.

There you're doing it aren't you?

More thoughts to come.

Interdependence

2007-11-28T09:41:00.000-05:00

This is the latest newsletter from my parents and the work they're doing in Mozambique. A lot of what Dad is saying here has been on my heart lately as well so it is timely I think to post this. I'm also excited for the new relationship SSU is forming with Iris Ministries Holy Given School as part of our International Studies program we're beginning this fall. If you want to know more about it, e-mail me any time.

Dear Friends and Partners in Ministry,

This Month at Mieze
After many months of planning, working and praying, we have finally been able to open our new orphan-homes at Mieze. We already have 17 girls and 16 boys from 3-14 years old in their new homes, with only 4 more places left to fill. There are also now 14 full-time staff (including guards, kitchen staff, house-mothers and cleaning staff).

It has been amazing to witness the process as new children have been arriving almost daily. Each one is welcomed with some new clothing (though we will always be in need of more), a towel, toothbrush and toothpaste, a new bed and many new friends. Most have been living under the most deprived circumstances up till now, as witnessed by the worn rags they usually bring with them. I watched in silence as 14 year-old Muanaidi arrived from a neighboring village with her 2 little sisters. She unwrapped a small piece of material containing all the clothes the 3 sisters owned. She folded them neatly, and deliberately placed them in their drawers beside their bright new pink towels. (I discovered the kids didn’t know the word for “pink” in Portuguese or even in Makua. Life has been very basic and drab for them before now.) This week, many of the kids have seen themselves in a mirror for the first time. Electric lights, running water, flush toilets and showers are all new experiences for everyone. The showers have been a particular hit, especially given the heat and humidity of this time of year. At all times of the day, kids appear dripping wet and grinning from ear to ear.

They have also been enjoying 3 good meals a day…including a cup of milk a day plus fish and fruit several times a week, in addition to the more familiar beans and rice. A Mozambican visitor said to me the other day, “This is wonderful. The kids are all so happy. They’re already like one big family!”

One of the truly wonderful things is watching the kids gather for a meal. They don’t just say a quick grace and get on with their food. They worship…loudly and joyfully…for at least 5 minutes. All led by 11-year-olds with no adult prompting. And then the older ones help the younger ones before they settle down to their own meal.

This project has involved the participation of many financial and prayer partners over the past 10 months. Two-thirds of the funding has come from Canadian churches and individuals and Canadian churches are providing monthly support for the on-going operation of the centre. Based on 1 Cor 13:13, we are calling the girls’ home “House of Faith,” the boys’ home “House of Hope,” and the whole centre the “Village of Love.”

Miracles Continue!
In this remote Mozambican setting, God continues to demonstrate the breaking in of his Kingdom by doing what only he can do! At last Wednesday’s medical outreach in Mieze, we didn’t have a doctor available so the nurses and other visitors prayed more. With only one exception, everyone they prayed for received immediate healing! That included one man’s leg growing longer to enable him to walk without a limp for the first time. And when a baby with a very high fever was brought, they noticed the baby was wearing a witch doctor’s fetish around his wrist. They explained this to the mother and asked permission to cut it off and pray for the baby. When they did, the baby’s temperature immediately returned to normal.

And an overnight village outreach saw a blind and crippled man, who could only crawl, get completely healed on Thursday evening. He walked to the meeting Friday morning—and there, 3 more blind people had their sight fully restored!

Thank you, Jesus!

Personal plans
Many in leadership in Iris have found the past several months very challenging in various personal ways. In our case, this has included attacks against our health and continuing shortfall in our personal financial support. If you are encouraged by these reports of God’s work through our ministry, we invite you to help us continue to serve in 2008 by your prayer and financial support. God has made us to walk together and to need each other to be fruitful. Independence is the world’s way; interdependence is God’s way.

We return to Canada for a much-needed break in a couple of weeks and we’re looking forward to spending Christmas with our family near Ottawa this year. Thank you for your partnership with us in this Kingdom ministry. We can be reached at this email address while away; and year-end gifts and on-going financial support can be sent to Iris Ministries Canada. Please see www.irismin.ca for details.

With continued love and gratitude,
Don & Elizabeth

More Monday Morning Mush

2007-11-19T10:29:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to get reved up on a Monday morning after a long road trip. This gave me a laugh...

Smart Blog

2007-11-17T15:35:00.000-05:00

I picked this up from my friend Frank's blog. Seems appropriate considering my line of work.

Real

2007-11-13T00:25:00.001-05:00

So I'm on the bus tour again. It's been pretty good overall and it's always great to travel with people that do the same job as you and...well....just understand what life is like on the road. We had some free time in Toronto this afternoon before we went to our event in Ajax and many of our group settled down to a nice brunch at the Richtree Market. To back up slightly I preached at a youth service for a church we were at in Barrie yesterday and I did my "Perfect Moment" talk which is essentially a call to take full advantage of the moments where God chooses to break into our reality and show us something. I was finishing my cappuccino and chocolate truffle after having had just an amazing two courses before and was wondering which Starbucks I was going to waste the next two hours at when I looked up and through the large window in the room we were sitting in was a what I would assume was a homeless man who was stepping out of the crowded sidewalk to hike up his pants and take a break for a moment. Honestly he couldn't have been framed better in that window. It was like God was using it as a living canvas playing our right in front of me. I wanted to take a picture but it felt dishonoring to this man to do it so I held back.

I was almost overwhelmed at the paradox of this moment. Here I was living in absolute decadence really and I'm looking at this man who may not know where his next meal will come from or where he'll sleep tonight (as I write this from my comfortable room at the Holiday Inn). I spent the next while wandering the streets of downtown wondering about this "perfect moment" that God had allowed me and asking him what it was all about. I wonder about this guy now even as I write this. What's he doing? Is he sleeping? Has he eaten today? Where is his family? Does anyone love him?

Oh man...

If it's Friday it must be...

2007-10-19T15:19:00.000-04:00

Sigh...I know I'm not posting much lately. No one needs to hear my litany of excuses so here's my update bullets...DUCK!

- Please say a prayer for my Dad. He's just over his second bout of malaria and had to take an emergency flight to South Africa to seek medical treatment for an infection in his leg.

- Pray for a guy named Ryan who is a grad of SSU. He is recovering from surgery to remove a tumour from his brain and is now undergoing radiation as they weren't able to get it all and it is cancerous. He is married to Sandie who is also an SSU grad and they have two kids. He was just recently told he's got a 50% chance of living 5 years which must be just impossible to process on so many levels.

Editorial...folks I don't know where your theology puts you but I believe that God does and wants to heal. So for those that agree with me, please pray for Dad and Ryan. For those of you that aren't sure, I'd encourage you to step out and try praying to this end. For those of you that don't believe God heals.....well I love you and ask you to still pray.

- I got an A in my first MBA course. I'm starting my next one in January so I've got a bit of a break but am encouraged that at least so far I'm not over my head.

- I've covered a lot of miles in these last few weeks. Please pray that I can get all my work done, stay in touch with my students that I need to, and stay healthy and encouraged. Please also pray for my family at home as it's hard to be away this much even though I know it's necessary for what I do.

- I'm in Toronto for the next couple of days at the Change Conference. If you're going to be there, stop by and say hi!

.......lots more to say but I've run out of time yet again.

Stay tuned.

I'm Alive

2007-09-27T14:37:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

Just taking a quick break to let you know I'm alive but still unbelievably busy. Here's some highlights.

- Am in week 9 of my first MBA course. It's been great but I wish I could have more time to enjoy the content. It moves fast and I feel like I'm barely holding on at the best of times.

- I'm just back from 8 days away with the CUA High School tour throughout Ontario which was long but fantastic. I made some great contacts with students from all over Ontario and got to travel again with a great bunch of recruiters. We are a fascinating bunch.

- I was also in St. Stephen for a few days of planning meetings. We've done well this year and broken all records so far but that means the pressures on!

...if you're counting I was home for all of 3 days from about the 9th-25th.

- I'm home now for about a week and a half of craziness, catch up, and day travel before I take off again for Northern NY, Winnipeg, Calgary (maybe), and Toronto over the next two weeks after that.

- Oh yeah I also have a 12 page paper due and am working to plan a day long seminar for recruiters as well.

Such is life right?

Ummmm....

2007-09-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

Meme

2007-08-31T08:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a post I just had to share.

My colleague and friend Shelley Perry recently lost her grandmother or "Meme" as she was called and has written what really is an amazing tribute and reflection on her life.

As someone who lived with a cherished "Granny" (insert Irish Presbyterian for Acadian Catholic) for many many years, this touched me deeply.

There's something about the place a beleoved matriarch holds in a family that is irreplacible one she passes on.

Read the post here and be inspired.

Where did ya go?

2007-08-10T13:57:00.000-04:00

So as you probably noticed I've been absent from the blogging world lately. The reason for this has mostly to do with the fact that I've started an MBA program and am completely swamped with school work during any free time I can manage.

It also leaves me with little creative space to write on my beloved Chicken and Fries which I am sad about as I do love doing this.

I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I may switch over to my Facebook page and post the occasional note there or I may just be an occasional poster here. For now though I'll stick with the occasional post here and update you on any moves. It just doesn't feel right to kill Chicken and Fries.

Stay with me friends!

Positive or Negative

2007-07-26T20:35:00.000-04:00

Some people misunderstand me. I think I have this reputation that I'm a negative person at times. I prefer to choose a term my mother took up years ago and call myself a realist. I've had a few things happen recently that have spured me on to thinking about how I tackle a problem or issue and while the method isn't the pretiest or the most comfortable I tend to think I'm pretty effective when it comes right down to it. There are people in my life that know this and can play along and there are people who can't. In the end I'll stick with the the first group and to the second group...

I have to care about an issue to want to address it. Honestly, there has to be some sort of motivation for me. Whether it's personal, spiritual, or financial. Usually I get engaged by observing and identifying the problems. This is not a clean process and sometimes depending on who is around me can be sometimes emotional, negative, and confusing. But really what I'm doing is processing. If someone can ride with me on that process they'll find that in the end I'm often able to present a solution that is creative, challenging, and will bring a new level of success into the situation I'm dealing with.

I know this process needs refining. Over time there will be less overtly emotional reaction which I'm sure will make things more palitable for those that don't understand me, but honestly I'm confident in my abilities and am always looking to improve myself so I know it will come. In the meantime like it or lump it as they say.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Overheard

2007-07-22T20:28:00.000-04:00

In the spirit of my friend Dayna's blog here's the official transcript from a conversation in the car this evening.

Tim (holding a McDonald's toy): "What does this thing do?"

Sarah: "It's a wheel. You pull the stick out and the wheel goes."

Tim: "You mean like a helicopter?"

Sarah: "Yeah except it's a wheel."

...I've been told I don't listen carefully sometimes. Sigh.

Sunday Schedule

2007-07-22T15:32:00.000-04:00

6:00 AM - Jonah wakes up hungry. He's (with Sarah and Evan) been at the cottage for the last few days and getting up early with everyone there. I was ready for 7:30 or even 7:00...but six? Help!

6:20 AM - After feeding him, Sarah puts him in bed with us where he proceeds to kick and punch us for the next hour.

6:45 AM - I must have fallen asleep for a few minutes because I had a dream that I had hair. I hate those dreams!!

7:30 AM - Evan comes in (thank goodness he stayed asleep) and we get up to start the day. Hello strong coffee.

9:30 AM - After two cups of coffee and some lovely pancakes (I love my wife), we get ready for church. I don't want to go. I'm tired and grumpy and am not feeling sociable.

10:00 AM - Sarah gives me the name "Passive Agressivo." I have no idea why....

10:39 AM - We arrive late for church. Somehow I feel good about this...We're meeting in a house today because our normal spot is booked. I take a place on the floor so I can "watch the kids". Another coffee too.

11:30 AM - Church is over already. I didn't like it. I have issues. We're having a pot luck and I'm not hungry. More coffee...

2:00 PM - Coffee starts to kick in. I'm now feeling slightly chatty at least but most people have left. It's time to go though as the kids are starting to loose it.

3:00 PM - Evan is watching his DVD after his snack. It's Barney!! We tried to convince him not to rent it but he says he'll watch it and like it. I try and hide but he says, "Daddy will you sit with me?" How can I say no?

4:30 PM - We go grocery shopping. Evan looks at some bubble bath and asks me if I want some for my baths...what can I say? It makes me feel pretty. I pass on the bubble bath out of shame. I'll be back for you later!!

5:00 PM - We get the second message of the week that there's a used car for sale at the barn. I still don't know where that is.

5:45 PM - I make another pot of coffee to make it through the rest of the day. Sarah tells me to suck it up. I pretend I'm offended until...

6:00 PM - Mac and Cheese for supper mmmmm....

6:45 PM - Off to the inlaw's farm for a quick visit and then a quick drive to find this barn. Our best guess proves to be right but we're too shy to drive into these people's driveway to check out what looks like a junker anyway. Oh well.

7:30 PM - The kids head to bed and I pour myself a drink....or not. We're out of beer!!

11:00 PM - After a night of brainless TV we go to bed. I really should have gone to bed earlier.

12:30 PM - I can't sleep. Stupid coffee!

Movie Night

2007-07-17T16:13:00.000-04:00

I'm going to see Transformers tonight.

I'm very excited!!

...mostly cause I just don't get out much.

Go Optimus Prime!!

A Gun, Wine, and Hugs

2007-07-13T17:12:00.001-04:00

What do those things have in common? Read this and see.

Have a great weekend!!

...by the way, this is Chicken and Fries 100th post!

My poor truck

2007-07-11T13:15:00.000-04:00

Sigh...finances are always a sore subject with me. I've never made much money in my life so as a result we usually live our lives paycheck to paycheck. I'm not looking for sympathy saying this really...I'm just stating it as fact.

The latest in our saga is my poor truck has probably seen it's last drive. The transmission is going...going...soon to be gone. Thankfully it's not our primary vehicle but we really do need to have a second one for Sarah to get to work and back and for her to use when I'm away. So we're now starting the process of looking for a second car which is going to be tricky because we really have no money to pay for one.

So if anyone out there is selling a car or knows someone who is selling a car in the general Ottawa area for about $3000 and under I might be interested. We're not looking for something beautiful...just something that will run safely for a few years and can hold the family (4 doors preferred). If you've got any leads e-mail me. Otherwise we'd love your prayers that we can find something that's right and is in our extremely limited price range.

Friday Afternoon

2007-07-06T16:39:00.000-04:00

It's Friday afternoon and it's almost quitting time for the weekend. I've got a couple of things on my mind...

I need to expand SSU's profile in my local area and I'm wracking my brain for the best solution. It feels like a brick wall but experience tells me it's not.

I'm trying to get some answers from someone on a question and I've had no luck. Makes me realize the value of returning people's messages right away.

Consistent aka a Junk Drawer post in disguise

2007-07-04T20:25:00.000-04:00

I don't have much interesting to say tonight. I'm trying to be consistent in posting though so here goes...

I spoke with Mom over the computer the other day and found out Dad has malaria. I think he's doing ok but recovery can take a while with malaria so if you think about, say a prayer for his healing please.

My work week has been office bound which is fine but it takes the energy out of me I think. I really enjoy going out and meeting with people. I'm pretty sure I thrive on the face to face side of my job so too much time in front of the computer is never a good thing.

I've took a bold step in my personal improvement a couple of weeks ago and am now waiting to hear back if it is a go. I won't spill the beans yet if it doesn't work (pride) but I'm both looking forward to it if it works and dreading it at the same time. Curious? Stay tuned.

I love ice cream!

Check out this blog when you have a chance. My colleague and friend, Shelley Perry has started posting her own thoughts and they're quite good. She can write friends so enjoy!

This is a picture I took this afternoon out of my office window...(I work in the basement). I had this funny feeling I was being watched.

I think that's it for now...

Happy Canada Day!

2007-07-01T15:08:00.000-04:00

Seems like an appropriate day to get the blog back up and running. It's been a great day today so far starting with a good turn out at church this morning. After there were planned festivities in the park beside the building we meet at and we spent a few hours wandering around doing what I see as typical small town stuff like listening to to the town band play (Sarah's Dad is a member), eating questionable food provided by local vendors, and meeting lots of friends and neighbors out doing the same stuff we were. Evan for the first time was into the rides there and did a couple of the ones that I thought there was no way he'd be brave enough to do. There's a brave streak coming out in him that I really like.

Interesting moment...during the opening ceremonies they had a moment of silence for our soldiers fighting overseas I guess...not really sure why. I was standing beside our neighbor who was busy chasing her kids and just doing regular mom stuff and she realized what was happening about 45 seconds into the moment of silence and kind of laughed. See the thing is her partner is currently finishing up 6 months in Afghanistan and she's been admirably holding down the fort back home for the whole time. We take these moments of silence but for her life doesn't stop...it can't.

Snooze

2007-06-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed, there's been a lack of activity on Chicken and Fries. It's not for lack of things to say more so I'm finding I have other (higher priority) things that are taking my extra time and leaving me with no time to write. I think since it's already half way through June, I'll declare a blogging siesta for the rest of the month and get back posting in July. I think life should afford me some time to be creative then.

Thanks to those that read this little page of my ramblings. I appreciate you guys and your contributions both here and when I see you in person. I'll be back soon....

Junk Drawer 8

2007-05-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

- So the rest of my meeting that I wrote about went a bit better. Still weird and unexpected but I left feeling a clearer sense of what my role might be in helping to solve some of the issues presented. Hopefully this is a story that has a happy ending.

- Spent Sunday night with a combined Nazarene and Free Methodist youth group in the city. It was neat to see a living example of two churches combining their resources together and living out what it means to be one body of Christ. I prayed lots of blessing into their group and their lives as it was a great example of what I think church really is supposed to look like.

- Read this article today about a new reality show in Europe. Man if this isn't the definition of a slippery slope I don't know what is.

- If you want to read a great post on the myth of Christians (especially Christian women) needing to get married young, read this from my friend Stacey. Her frustration is evident at the subtle and not so subtle pressure she is facing from well meaning Christian married friends who think that somehow a person isn't complete without having walked down the aisle at an early age. I share a lot of her feelings on this subject as someone who got married at 27.

Troubled

2007-05-22T19:45:00.000-04:00

I heard a talk today that unsettled me. I can't go into detail but it was one of those times where I had an inkling that something wasn't right and this talk confirmed it. The problem was that I wasn't hearing talk of a solution. Just an acknowledgement that there is a problem and that we just need to suck it up and tough it out. That feel wrong to me but I'm thinking there might be more to come.

I'm really hoping so...

Church

2007-05-21T10:54:00.000-04:00

"We're going to stop complaining about the church that we've experienced and try to become the church that we dream of."

Shane Clairborne
The Simple Way

Best Quote From Last Night's Office

2007-05-11T10:56:00.000-04:00

Michael: We are all participating in mandatory fun activities. Funtivities! And there is a special secret prize for the winner!

Dwight: Yes, funtivities! I knew it wasn’t just a trip to the beach.

Michael: Okay, you know what? Your enthusiasm’s turning people off.

Dwight: I hope there will be management parables.

A close second...

Creed: Nobody told me we were going to have hot dogs!

Seinfeld Aaron Close Talker

2007-05-10T03:20:00.001-04:00

I had an experience in the last few months (broad time frame inserted so as not to give clues)with a close talker and it reminded me of my favorite Seinfeld clip. Seinfeld is not a show I particularly liked but I thought this one was brilliant as anyone who knows me knows I love my personal space.

PS...The Spanish subtitles are free of charge!

Jimmy Carter

2007-05-07T20:30:00.000-04:00

I listen to the podcast called Speaking of Faith every now and then and am almost through an interesting interview with former American President, Jimmy Carter. The piece goes in depth into his reflections on faith and politics and the role of the church to influence and change. It is a very interesting listen considering the polarization that the topic can cause in today's time. I was very young when he was President so have no memory of his impact. I do wonder however whether he was a man before his time and how different things might be now if he was in power.

Listen to the podcast

Junk Drawer 7

2007-05-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

This may seem like a weird topic but is it just me or has anyone else heard a lot of stories or had personal experience lately of loved ones dying? I have heard maybe 5 or 6 separate stories of peoples parents mostly passing away over the last few weeks. I'm not smart enough to know the reasons why or if any of it is connected in some "heavenly realm" but it is something to note.

....on to happier news.

I really enjoyed my time in Cambridge Vinyeard last Sunday. I was pleased at how my message came across and especially pleased that God seemed to show up and touch hearts. Also I took about a dozen students from the youth group there (plus a current SSU student who I met for the first time) out for lunch after and had a great time getting to know them and of course answering SSU questions. Total fun!!

I'm going to preach the same message again at OVV this weekend. This will be the third Sunday(5th time) that I've done the message on the refining process. It's been interesting to observe how it is evolving naturally every time I talk. God seems to throw something new in each time I do it.

Dad seems to have had another cookie multiplication miracle happen. He sent an e-mail a couple of days ago to tell the story. Simply amazing! Is there an anointing for something like this somewhere in Scripture? If people are interested I can post it.

Two days of office work have me feeling pretty beat. I know it's a necessary part of the job but I sure enjoy talking to people face to face. Starting at a computer screen takes way more work and focus for me.

Quick post from the road...

2007-04-26T15:03:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post from the road...

I'm going to be in Hamilton for the next couple of days at a large Home Schooling conference so if you're heading that way, come say hi!

I'm in Cambridge on Sunday morning and will be preaching at Cambridge Vineyard for the two morning services. Again please come by and say hi if you're in the area.

I'm really wanting to whine and complain about my crappy day but here's a clip from an e-mail I got from my Dad this morning that puts all my pettiness in perspective.

"The travel back was as good as it could be, but it was still excruciating. However, we were well rested when we left and recovered in 24 hours--good thing too, because we hit the ground running here. We both had a very busy day yesterday meeting with the various people we work with and catching up on the past couple of months. I even got out to Mieze to see the progress on our 2 orphan-homes. Much slower than I imagined (and likely more expensive too), but they have struggled with a lot of rain. Anyway, a lot has been accomplished and I'm sure it'll progress more quickly now that I'm back to visit the site every couple of days. It's exciting to see a vision taking shape. When I arrived, I was greeted like a long-lost brother by Pastor Juma. His only son, a 2-year-old, died last week (probably from something that could have been treated in the West). So we embraced and wept together.

Then women and children from the village began to gather and sing an African song of welcome to me, which they kept up for a long time. It was very moving...and reminded me again WHY I'm in Africa right now. Then Juma led us all in boisterous prayer of thanksgiving; and I talked about how the Summerside church has been transformed by their visit to Africa and their plans for a return visit...and the St. Croix Vineyard team coming in October. And each sentence was greeted with wild cheers by the hundred or so people who had gathered by that time. It was all really quite amazing: all God!"

DAVID LETTERMAN 'TOP TEN GEORGE W. BUSH MOMENTS' CORRESPONDENTS' DINNER

2007-04-24T16:55:00.001-04:00

I know this is a bit cheeky but I've been a long time fan of Dave's and it was done at an event where joking was the theme of the night. Gotta admit too it's pretty funny.

Facebook

2007-04-20T09:50:00.000-04:00

So I did the Facebook thing as most everyone in the universe who has a computer and access to the internet is on there.

Since Sunday I know have 46 friends which is a pretty good boost to the old ego if I do say so myself....people love me!!!! They really do!!!!

Come say hi and be my friend (he says without trying to sound too lame).

Refining

2007-04-17T20:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry to all my readers for the layoff in the Chicken and Fries posting. Call it a creative ebb...I just didn't have any juice for posting for a bit and had to take a break.

In the meantime I found Facebook but that's another story altogether.

I'm preaching at the AM service at Hosanna Vineyard this Sunday and am thinking of talking about what might be happening during a time when God chooses to engage in a refining process with his people either individually or as a community.

Here's my thoughts so far...

Some ideas of what’s happening when we get refined during hard times.

- Refining = Promise of hope eases the pain gradually
o Brings us eventually to a place of acceptance
o Brings peace
o Shows us the future

- Refining = Not asking “why” but “what”
o “Why” isn’t a question that always brings peace or the answers we want to hear.
o What’s happening here? What are you doing here God? What are you trying to teach me?
o Not always possible to ask the what questions right away.
o Part of the healing process

- Refining = Lets us see with God’s eyes not our own
o His plan is way bigger than ours
o We can’t see the whole picture of what’s happening
o Gradually he shows us the big picture when we’re ready

- Refining = We always have a choice
o We’re often pushed into the fire but we have a choice when were in it how much we let ourselves be refined.
o Let go – There’s beauty in the breakdown

- Refining = There’s an inner process and an outer process taking place at the same time.
o The inner refining is between you and God
o The outer refining is for others to witness

- Refining = There’s no time limit
o Over time the refining becomes less painful but it doesn’t stop
o You start to appreciate and be grateful for the refining after time

- Refining = It’s what happens at the end that matters.
o Our faith is increased
o Our joy will come back
o Jesus is glorified
o End result is total salvation

Hmmm...

2007-04-02T21:33:00.000-04:00

My silence probably says all it needs to on this but someone pointed this link out to me the other day.

GodTube.com

Starbucks Memo Part Trois

2007-04-02T21:04:00.000-04:00

Here's a few more thoughts from Howard Schultz's memo (why do I always want to call him Charles?).

"We achieved fresh roasted bagged coffee, but at what cost? The loss of aroma -- perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores; the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer, and once again stripping the store of tradition and our heritage?" I love this notion of the importance of the "non-verbal." It's a reminder that our influence doesn't always come from what we say.

"Some people even call our stores sterile, cookie cutter, no longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about our coffee. In fact, I am not sure people today even know we are roasting coffee." This is an extremely strong statement and highlights the shift that is taking place in their business. Sterile, cookie cutter, lacking passion...customers not even knowing the basics of what they're about....very strong. Do we have the guts to call out issues that need to be dealt with like Schultz? Starbucks will survive this bump in the road I'm sure. They are smart enough I think to make the course corrections necessary and get back on the right track but how many of us can afford see things fall as far as this before we're sunk. Good thought here is to stay aware of where our endeavors are headed and to not be afraid to call out the issues before things shift too far.

"While the current state of affairs for the most part is self induced, that has lead to competitors of all kinds, small and large coffee companies, fast food operators, and mom and pops, to position themselves in a way that creates awareness, trial and loyalty of people who previously have been Starbucks customers." Hello Church!! Are we listening?

"This must be eradicated.I have said for 20 years that our success is not an entitlement and now it's proving to be a reality. Let's be smarter about how we are spending our time, money and resources. Let's get back to the core. Push for innovation and do the things necessary to once again differentiate Starbucks from all others. We source and buy the highest quality coffee. We have built the most trusted brand in coffee in the world, and we have an enormous responsibility to both the people who have come before us and the 150,000 partners and their families who are relying on our stewardship." I dunno...I'm impressed by this guy and the quality of what he's saying there. His finish is a great rallying cry for us all no matter what we're involved in. Return to our core values. Return to what makes us stand out. Remember that success can be found not just through the bottom line.

My Celebrity Look-alikes

2007-03-26T20:40:00.003-04:00

I thought a break from my Starbucks thoughts were in order so I tried this test that I found on the blog of my friend Stacey. As I said in my comment on her blog, so much for my movie star looks. They must have gone the way of my hair.

Tell me the truth. Has anybody heard of these guys without having to look them up?

Too funny!

Starbucks Memo Part Deux

2007-03-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

I want to pull a few more thoughts out of this memo. Thanks for the great reflections by the way for those of you who have commented. I'll start with four and go from there next time.

"Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand." A commodity is defined as a product as distinguished from a service. Commoditization can then be defined as when a product becomes indistinguishable from others like it and consumers buy on price alone. This is what Schultz is identifying as an issue in the Starbucks brand. They have strayed from their roots which was selling the whole coffee experience from beginning to end. Their brand was commoditized and customers then saw them in the same boat as their competitors and they were loosing ground quickly.

How many times in whatever endeavour we're involved in do we see this happen as we experience growth. We are all brand managers in a sense though some more than others. For some it's our own personal brand. For many we're involved in the shaping and defining of a brand whether it be business, church, ministry, etc. Is growth taking away from the true experience we want people to have when they come in contact with our brand? Are our "customers" now shopping on price alone?

"Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the experience; but in this case, the sum is much greater and, unfortunately, much more damaging than the individual pieces. " This underscores the constant need to "see big" and ask big questions. As Starbucks were making key decisions to deal with the extreme growth they were experiencing, Schultz points out their solutions focused solely on the the problem and didn't keep in mind the big picture. How easy is it to loose track of the vision in the heat of the moment? When we're faced with maintaining and increasing growth, development, etc how often do we (unconsciously most of the time) forget or decide to compromise the big picture vision that got us there in the first place?

"For example, when we went to automatic espresso machines, we solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines. " This may be a bit of an obscure point to pick out of this but it reminds me that everyone loves to see a story unfold and that applies as much to the "customer" experience as anything. This is what Schultz is indirectly pointing out here I think. Starbucks was telling a story for the customer as soon as they walked in to the door to the time they left. This was the beauty of their beginning and a significant factor to their growth as no one was doing this on a national scale as they were. I remember the feeling of slight sadness to see they had replaced their old conventional machines with the new automatics. I guess I maybe felt some of the story had been altered and it was a little less "romantic" now.

I could write tons just on this notion of how we rely on the narrative in everything we do. As I'm fond of saying though, smarter people have done a lot of research and put a ton of thought into this idea. I'll just say that this one comment from Schultz serves to underscore the importance of maintaining the narrative in our own lives and never ever stop telling the stories that are important to us.

"This specific decision became even more damaging when the height of the machines, which are now in thousands of stores, blocked the visual sight line the customer previously had to watch the drink being made, and for the intimate experience with the barista. " I'm fascinated by this thought because of the significant effect of the minute. Schultz identifies just a slight change in the height of the espresso machines as a hindrance for the customer gaining the full experience of the Starbucks story. Again this is big picture thinking combating small term solutions. Are we paying attention to the significance of the minute in what we do?

As well don't underestimate the value of connection. The "personal" is a key element in the success of the Starbucks experience and again a lesson to take home. Starbucks wants a customer to order a drink and feel like he had a stake in creating it. That's why you can go there and go through a litany of specifics as you order. Taking the view away from seeing the barista then create your "custom" drink and making it harder to even engage them as they do it hurt them. Do we value the personal connection in what we do or are we all business all the time?

Are you as challenged by this short little memo as I am? I've got one more post to come I think but again please comment.

Starbucks Memo 1

2007-03-20T16:20:00.000-04:00

There's been a memo floating around the internet that's purported to have come from Howard Schultz who is the CEO of Starbucks. I've done a little research while thinking about posting this and according to most sources including the Wall Street Journal, this memo is legit. Even if it's not, is is challenging and thought provoking and worth posting.

February 23, 2007

Starbucks chairman warns of "the commoditization of the Starbucks experience"

Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz wrote this to CEO Jim Donald earlier this month. The memo's authenticity has been confirmed by Starbucks.

Subject: The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience

As you prepare for the FY 08 strategic planning process, I want to share some of my thoughts with you.

Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.

Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the experience; but in this case, the sum is much greater and, unfortunately, much more damaging than the individual pieces. For example, when we went to automatic espresso machines, we solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines. This specific decision became even more damaging when the height of the machines, which are now in thousands of stores, blocked the visual sight line the customer previously had to watch the drink being made, and for the intimate experience with the barista. This, coupled with the need for fresh roasted coffee in every North America city and every international market, moved us toward the decision and the need for flavor locked packaging. Again, the right decision at the right time, and once again I believe we overlooked the cause and the affect of flavor lock in our stores. We achieved fresh roasted bagged coffee, but at what cost? The loss of aroma -- perhaps the most powerful non-verbal signal we had in our stores; the loss of our people scooping fresh coffee from the bins and grinding it fresh in front of the customer, and once again stripping the store of tradition and our heritage? Then we moved to store design. Clearly we have had to streamline store design to gain efficiencies of scale and to make sure we had the ROI on sales to investment ratios that would satisfy the financial side of our business. However, one of the results has been stores that no longer have the soul of the past and reflect a chain of stores vs. the warm feeling of a neighborhood store. Some people even call our stores sterile, cookie cutter, no longer reflecting the passion our partners feel about our coffee. In fact, I am not sure people today even know we are roasting coffee. You certainly can't get the message from being in our stores. The merchandise, more art than science, is far removed from being the merchant that I believe we can be and certainly at a minimum should support the foundation of our coffee heritage. Some stores don't have coffee grinders, French presses from Bodum, or even coffee filters.

Now that I have provided you with a list of some of the underlying issues that I believe we need to solve, let me say at the outset that we have all been part of these decisions. I take full responsibility myself, but we desperately need to look into the mirror and realize it's time to get back to the core and make the changes necessary to evoke the heritage, the tradition, and the passion that we all have for the true Starbucks experience. While the current state of affairs for the most part is self induced, that has lead to competitors of all kinds, small and large coffee companies, fast food operators, and mom and pops, to position themselves in a way that creates awareness, trial and loyalty of people who previously have been Starbucks customers. This must be eradicated.

I have said for 20 years that our success is not an entitlement and now it's proving to be a reality. Let's be smarter about how we are spending our time, money and resources. Let's get back to the core. Push for innovation and do the things necessary to once again differentiate Starbucks from all others. We source and buy the highest quality coffee. We have built the most trusted brand in coffee in the world, and we have an enormous responsibility to both the people who have come before us and the 150,000 partners and their families who are relying on our stewardship.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge all that you do for Starbucks. Without your passion and commitment, we would not be where we are today.

Onward…

Like I said whether this is actually true or not (I'm in the yes camp BTW) this memo has a lot of food for thought on not only the perils of a mega business like Starbucks trying to stay true to the roots that formed what it is today but for almost any endeavour that grows and develops and changes over time. As a frequent patron of "St. Arbucks" and someone who has both read Schultz's book and spent 3 years in the coffee industry I agree with a lot of what he says about the shifts in their business and believe his plea to return to the roots of what "made" them is on track.

I think of the things I'm involved with...OVV, and SSU among others. I think of the issues related to ministry, business, and entrepreneurship that I sort through and realize there's some good principles to apply here.

I'm going to write more on this but what do you think?

Junk Drawer 6

2007-03-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

- No more dog poop posts I promise.

- We're all headed out tomorrow for a couple of weeks R&R at the casa Kantel Sr's in PEI. I think I mentioned this before but March in PEI isn't ideal but it will actually be our first extended holiday away in more than a year and a half.

- In getting ready for the trip, we wanted to get some books on CD for Evan to listen to and discovered that the great Robert Munsch has a whole bunch of his stories available to download. We now have 10 of his best to travel the miles with and enjoy.

- We're still thinking at church about this idea how of how to develop our sound system and worship team. What comes first? How much to invest in each? When to wait? It's a great discussion we're working through in the leadership.

- I found this interesting article that gives a glimpse of the internal battles of the Evangelical church in America and how the "left" and "right" are trying to stake out their circle of influence.

- I've been reading the Naked Pastor blog off and on and am impressed at his level of honesty, insight, and passion that he puts into his writing. I knew him a little back when I lived in NB and know his church and people that go/have gone there.

Coprophagia

2007-03-14T21:28:00.000-04:00

As taken from "Training Your Beagle" by Kristine Kraeuter

"Stool eating, also known as coprophagia is a common behavior among Beagles. You may discover, to your disgust, that your Beagle seems to take great joy in consuming his own feces or that of another dog. Some hounds have a preference for cat feces or manure. I have yet to meet the Beagle that can resist rabbit droppings. Frozen feces while some owners whimsically refer to as pupsicles, are a popular wintertime treat."

This explains so much about my dog...

Junk Drawer 5

2007-03-12T20:27:00.000-04:00

For some reason I can't write often enough to keep from having to throw a bunch of information out like this. Sorry. I'm going on vacation at the end of the week and can maybe slow down enough to put some thoughts together in more than a few sentences at a time. Anyway here's another junk drawer for now.

- I was at the Friday evening Shift youth conference on Friday at The Life Centre. I got a chance to hear a very interesting speaker by the name of Vaden Earle who has a ministry called Absolute. The talk I heard was great. Best line from the night went something like, "I don't see people breaking down the doors to get in here (church) so we'd better be breaking down the doors to get out there." The also run a group called Hero Holiday which is worth a look.

- After much looking I finally found a podcast of Garrison Keillor doing his news from Lake Wobegone. Thank you Itunes. Something about listening to Keillor makes me all comfy cozy and his newscasts make me laugh out loud every time.

- We're off to visit the parents at the end of the week. PEI in March is never the best of choices but we've got a warm place to stay and time to turn the brain off and decompress from what has been a stressful last month or so will be welcome.

- In our journey which is church planting we're having a discussion on building a sound system vs investing into the teaching of the worship team. How much do you spend vs show much do you spend/invest. I may write more on this as my thoughts develop but it's a challenging discussion our leadership is having. Very exciting though. Good stuff to try and wrestle through.

I think that's it for tonight. Happy trails!

Junk Drawer 4

2007-03-06T20:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not posting in a while. I've had a busy time the last while and combine that with finding myself at a creative ebb has resulted in Chicken and Fries being quiet for the last while. Here's my junk drawer post to bring everyone up to speed.

- Evan is doing really well. I'm just amazed how resilient he is and the level of his understanding of what's happening with him. He had his first scheduled doctor's apt yesterday and we're right on track. We're still working out things like his insulin levels, etc but things are good. Keep praying that things go smoothly for him and for us.

- We've been having some great times with my parents the last few weeks. They're getting in some good grandparent time as well spoiling our boys. It's going to take a month to deprogram them!

- I'm really excited about the enrollment for this fall at SSU. Numbers are up and the class that is confirming are a great mix of young Christian students from across North America.

- I spent a few days travelling this week for SSU. This was the first trip since Evan was diagnosed and I think things went well. It was great to have my parents help on the home front though. Here's my quick list of people I visited.

Rick Kirscher of KAOS Radio. Great station! Their whole mission is working to bridge the divide of sacred and secular through their programming.

Spoke at the high school at Selwyn Outreach Centre. Good bunch of students who were engaged with what I was speaking about. I hate Power Point though!

John Lata of Canadian Youth Network. It was one of those times where I felt we immediately clicked and the conversation flowed naturally and with passion.

Andrew Gazaneo, Pastor of TACF Central. I love what they're doing at Central! Andrew is another guy I immediately felt I clicked with when I met him for the first time. Down to earth, thoughtful, passionate, talented. A guy I'm appreciating getting to know and developing a friendship with. He brought his intern Brett too who has an amazing story to tell as well.

Lunch on Saturday with some fellow recruiters from the CCU Fairs.

Coffee and a great chat with my friend Dayna. Great to catch up on life and talk shop!

Spent a lot time time walking through the exhibit hall at Missions Fest Ontario. Too many conversations to mention with colleagues and ministry leaders.

Ended the trip with a Sunday AM at Burloak Christian Fellowship. Love what those guys are doing in Burlington and Oakville.

That's it for now!

There's Beauty In The Breakdown

2007-02-25T15:29:00.000-05:00

Alan Kearns was our speaker this morning at church and as part of his great talk on the transition from servant to friend used this song from the sound track of the movie Garden State. I was moved by the words as it summed up my journey of the last couple of weeks.

Let Go by Frou Frou

drink up baby down

Are you in or are you out?

Leave your things behind

'Cause it's all going off without you

Excuse me too busy you're writing your tragedy

These mishaps

You bubble-wrap

When you've no idea what you're like

[Chorus:]

So, let go,let go

Jump in

Oh well, what you waiting for?

It's all right'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown (I love this phrase!)

So, let go, l-let go

Just get in

Oh, it's so amazing here

It's all right'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

It gains the more it gives

And then it rises with the fall

So hand me that remote

Can't you see that all that stuff's a sideshow?

Such boundless pleasure

We've no time for later

Now you can't await

your own arrival

you've twenty seconds to comply

[Chorus:]

So, let go, so let go

Jump in

Oh well, what you waiting for?

It's alright'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

So, let go, yeah let go

Just get in

Oh, it's so amazing here

It's all right'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

[Chorus:]

So, let go, so let go

Jump in

Oh well, what you waiting for?

It's alright

'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

So, let go, yeah let go

Just get in

Oh, it's so amazing here

It's all right'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

In the breakdown'

Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

The breakdown

So amazing here

'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

Making Up

2007-02-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

I hosted our church service this morning as Ahren was away. I've been working hard to clear up my frustration and anger with Evan's diabetes and yeah some of that has been directed towards God. I know he can handle it so I'm not worried about that.

Admittedly my heart wasn't 100% in it still but it was a weird feeling before and during the service today. It was one of those feelings like after you'd been in a fight with your wife or your best friend. You've made up but there's still this uncomfortable awkwardness for the first little while when you're together the next time.

Good thing God is patient and understanding. I love that about Him.

How do you pray?

2007-02-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

So the second part of my thought process on praying for Evan is how do I ask others to pray for him. I had a couple of people ask about him today and I'm still not sure how to phrase what my heart is trying to say.

I want people to pray for him. I want to take every advantage of people praying that God will heal him. But at the same time I don't want Evan to think he's sick or disadvantaged in any way. I don't want to take him forward every time we do prayer for healing at church but I also want to be vigilant and not miss a possible moment that God has intended to heal him.

I don't want people to be asking him every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday how's he's feeling. I want people to pray for him to lead a normal and full life. I want people to pray that he learns to live with and manage his diabetes effectively so that it is part of him but doesn't define him.

Does God want what I want? I don't know. Is it ok to live in the tension of the seeming contradiction here? I'm not sure I know any other way.

How do I pray?

2007-02-21T20:52:00.000-05:00

So the days are going really well with Evan. I know I'm biased but I'm just amazed how well he's coping with the sudden changes in his life. It won't always be smooth sailing but man my boy is amazing.

So as a Dad I'm wrestling how to pray for this diabetes thing. I believe God can and does heal his kids...especially the little ones. I now have the responsibility to pray every day that God heals Evan completely fully believing that it's possible at any point.

At the same time I also need to pray that he leads a normal life and get used to having diabetes so it doesn't adversely affect him in any way.

Is that a contradiction?

I also have to communicate this to him as he gets older. I wonder what the best way of doing this is?

Next...how do I ask others to pray?

Insight

2007-02-19T20:27:00.000-05:00

Evan was coming down for his bedtime snack (He gets 3 a day now. Who says there aren't upsides to diabetes?) and he turns to me and says, "Daddy I need you to carry me downstairs." When I asked him why he said, "Because my blood sugar is high."

He's just turning three! He's learned enough in less than a week to know that he gets carried if he's tired because his blood sugar is high. Now he's milking it for attention...nice to have my 3 year old back.

He also told Sarah tonight that he likes taking his insulin because it keeps him healthy. But he doesn't like his needles. He then said, "But nobody likes needles!"

Kids are amazing.

Perspective

2007-02-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

We're done our day and Evan is in bed after another trip to the hospital and another day of blood sugar tests and insulin. Maybe today was a little better than yesterday. I'm not sure yet as up is down and down is up.

Today we had a visit from an old friend from Toronto. In the midst of everything I remembered that she lost her mom to cancer at maybe 45 ish. At least we have our son still.

I had the thought today at the hospital, "I wonder how many children here are dying?" It's morbid I know but it helps me keep things in perspective.

He's just three years old and doesn't understand what's happening really though. He asked us today is this was going to be forever. Then he went back to talking with him imaginary friend.

Keep praying for Evan please. Pray that he somehow knows Jesus is with him when he's scared.

Real Life

2007-02-15T21:08:00.000-05:00

I don't even know how to write this....

Real life has hit our family square in the face.

Our oldest boy Evan was diagnosed yesterday with type 1 diabetes yesterday. We began to see some symptoms about 6 weeks ago and with a family history on Sarah's side we began to get concerned as the symptoms got worse.

We're now dealing with hospital visits for the next few days and a huge learning curve of information and education. Worst of all we now have to prick Evan's finger 4 times a day to check his blood and give him an insulin shot 2 times a day. We have only done the test once so far and not the shot yet. It's an awful experience for us having to watch him cry his eyes out every time. I know it will get better and things could be much worse (a trip through the children's hospital will confirm this in an instant) but this is painful for all of us (he's only 3) and overwhelming. So much has to change.

Pray for us that we find a normal rhythm of life again over time. Pray for little Evan that this whole thing stops being scary and that he somehow feels Jesus' love and peace even though he's scared.

Wonder Pets

2007-02-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

This is my new favorite kids show. Wonder Pets are cool!

Junk Drawer 3

2007-02-08T15:41:00.000-05:00

Here's more random thoughts after a weeks break from posting.

- The rest of my trip went well including Snowflake on Saturday. I didn't get much student contact but I did meet some great camp reps and got to chat for a long time with some students from Summit College including my friend Nicola who has applied to come to SSU in September.

- I have to say I find it a bit offensive that everything in Niagara Falls is priced at least a couple of dollars more than normal. Not to mention there's a municipal tax you have to pay on top of the other two. Made my trips to Starbucks a little less frequent while I was there.

- The last few days have been busy office work catching up, doing student contacting, getting a trip planned for a couple of weekends from now, and picking up my parents from the airport yesterday afternoon.

- Technically I'm supposed to be off for a couple of days but I've got so much work to do with at least one project due tomorrow so with apologies to my friends at The Strategic Coach, these will not be true free days for me.

- I'm at the Sunday service at The Met in Ottawa speaking as part of a Christian College and University session. If you're there, please say hi.

Road Report

2007-02-02T14:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm writing from the road today. I was hoping to post an update earlier but I had some unforeseen delays yesterday in getting to Toronto so here I am better late than never.

My first meeting was yesterday in Kingston with Al Doseger and Garry Castle of Next Church fame. Actually Al has moved on to another church plant just a few blocks north and is doing really amazing work building community in the poorest parts of Kingston. Al and Garry are two people worth getting to know.

I was supposed to meet a couple of hours later with an Ontario youth speaker, Brett Ullman to explore some potential connections with SSU but got detoured by the horrible multi-car crash on the 401 yesterday. It was one of those unavoidable things that happens once in a while and Brett was very understanding and willing to reschedule. I realized as I was bumper to bumper somewhere in the back roads between Grafton and Coburg that I should call my wife as I realized she might see this on the news and wonder since I was supposed to be on the 401 around the time of the accident. Thank goodness for cell phones!

Today I met a new friend Paul Robertson and got to talk about his perspective on youth culture and where he saw things going. I also got to make the SSU connection with him as he is long time friends with the Chairman of our Board and now is up to date with what we're doing. I look forward to future connection with Paul including attending Today's Teens conference in a couple of weeks that he's helping to organize.

I'm writing now from the Freeway in Hamilton which is a Salvation Army church plant in the heart of the urban core. They are doing great things building community here including operating as a fully functioning cafe (Fair Trade Coffee, Fresh Bagels, Free Wireless) which as you know is dear to my heart so it's a great spot all around. Definitely people I'm interested in connecting with SSU.

Aside from Freeway, I'm doing a few "cold calls" (first time for this job) dropping information to some churches I want to build relationship with along the way. Here's the links: Church on The Rock, Living Hope Christian Assembly, and Lakemount Worship Centre (which I hope to get to on Sunday AM as well).

Finally Saturday for me is in Niagara Falls at an event called Snowflake. It will be a new arena for us so hopefully lots of good contacts and relationships will come of it. If you're there, make sure to come say hi.

All of this and I'm going to try and be home in time for the Superbowl!