Dreams Unlocked

cuz one isn't enough

this is adam looking quite dignified in his monkey suit. this was just one of those regular grind type days that i'm sure everyone encounters from time to time - nothing too special or exciting. just pounding out a sermon and trying to do some long term planning and visioning. had a run-through for the wedding i am doing on saturday - i think it will go well. this is my first wedding! went to a prayer meeting at church tonight - it is themost important meeting in the whole church - it keeps the church running. after this sermon on sunday i am pretty much done for the year! i have a wedding on the 14th but no more sermons until jan 1st! cool. "all the angels in heaven did sing on christmas day in the morning. i saw THREE SHIPS come sailing in on christmas day in the morning."

yesterday we had our pastor's meeting at ubc - there was a city wide baptist pastor's meeting afterward. we discussed some difficult issues that different people in our church are dealing with. at the larger meeting we discussed "clergy care" - that is where do pastors go for help when they are feeling burned out or depressed - also care for their families. initially i did not want to go but it turned into quite a good meeting. it also dumped snow yesterday morning - looked beautiful at ubc. picked up some commentaries for my sermon on sunday - also made a really cool powerpoint presentation to play as people walk in on sunday night. will work on my sermon today - meet w. the couple i am marrying on ssaturday , this aft. - leading a prayer meeting at the church tonight. "Perhaps it's the color of the sun cut flat An' cov'rin' the crossroads I'm standing at, Or maybe it's the weather or something like that,"

this is a picture i took of pamela anderson in front of my building. she was the grand marshall of the grey cup parade. this picture is exactly like the one that was on the cover of the province newspaper today. i should be a professional photographer.

had an awesome grey cup party with about 10 people from first@night. edomonton won - thats ricky ray above. what an exciting game! went into overtime and it was totally close. the coach of edmonton looks like a little kid! he was hilarious. black eyed peas were pretty good at halftime. also got to see my buddy daryl which was pretty cool. he's helping record an album at a studio on saltspring island right now. tomorrow its back to the grind. i preach sunday night so i have to prep for that, as well as get the sermon going. peace.

ward gasque did a very good job on the davinci code last night - we drew about 100 people which was awesome. ward is such a great guy. today is our first full family day in a long time. the grey cup parade goes right in fron t of our house - pamela anderson lee is leading it which should be exciting. going to watch war of the worlds tonight. my buddy daryl is in town so hopefully i will be able to see him. not feeling too inspired - going to read my bible now.

felicia is doing a double shift which means i have to stay home with the boy during the day- it was really awesome except for the times when he wouldn't stop crying. tonight was especially fun as we played together for about an hour - we play this kind of slow person's hide and seek where he hides and then comes running out and laughs at me - then i scoop him up and tickle him. he was so good tonight - when i said "sleepy time adam?" - "can you go get lammy?" lammy is his stuffed lamb that he goes to bed with. he got lammy and his soother and then walked into his room and stood in front of his crib. i picked him - we prayed together and then he lay down - no crying! what a great kid! had a good meeting with a new guy at first@night - he's a very bright computer science student at ubc - he is on a journey of faith and it was quite exciting to hear the steps he is taking. busy weekend - davinci code lecture is tomorrow and then grey cup pot-luck party on s

working at home today. so the first major thing that god revealed to me while at the church planting congress was that i had become seduced by the culture i live in. i live in yaletown which is one of the most cosmetic places in north america. everything here is about appearances. as a result i felt that if i a church was going to reach people it also had to "look good" - flashy logo, posters, web-site etc. in reality what is important is the interior of the church - the heart and soul. a community that truly loves each other and serves each other. things like fasting and prayer and seeking god's face is more important then having a church filled with "cool" people wearing the right clothes. - i repented and asked god to continue to reveal to me his will and give me new priorities. too often we focus on the package - while the product sucks. i once bought a book because it had a good title and a cool cover - it wasn't a very good book. so that was the first

friday night - 7:54 pm, listening to dylan: "the land that i live in has GOD ON ITS SIDE" took part of the day off to re-connect with felicia and adam who i hadn't seen in 6 days! adam is looking bigger and is quite hyper running this way and that. we went to milestones for brunch which was very nice - got to meet the chef, ron - really nice guy. then poking around in different shops - adam got this really cool looking winter jacket - it looks like its leather but its not. i looked at a few hats - i'm thinking of buying a hat to spiff up my image. stoppe dinto the office to talk with tom our sr. pastor - just to tell him how toronto was. i then tried to clean up my office - i have so much freaking paper!!! i tossed a whole bunch today - i should say i recycled a whole bunch. then i went through a bunch of piled up phone messages and other office type stuff that piles up when you're away. also got the new ut dvd - live in chacago - kind of psyched about it. i have

walk the line is a fantastic film. even if you are not a johnny cash fan you will enjoy this film. i tell you best actor is now a toss-up between philip seymour hoffman in capote and phoenix as johnny. i think i am favoring phoenix because he actually sings and sounds just like cash. went into the office to have my quiet time and sort through my mail and organize myself. i also voted for the civic election. earlier today i bit the inside of my mouth and it hasn't stopped bleeding - and little pieces of my flesh get loose and i have to spit them out - its gross and a bit troubling to be spitting up blood. any suggestions on what i should do? do i need to see a doctor? "lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be." - johnny cash

it's 8:33 AM - my body probably thinks it's 11:33 due to that dang time change. so i barealy slept the three days i was in toronto. i thought i would crash when i got home - last night i went to bed at 11:00 - so i got like 9 hour of sleep right? but i still feel wasted and my headache that i got on the plane is still there. i'm in bad shape - also i'm hungry. i'm actually writing this post from my bed. i have sooooo much stuff i want to share about the congress but i think i am still going to wait until i sort it ou before i spill my guts online here. i'm looking at my calender and the coming week looks pretty packed with meetings - i'm taking today off to recuperate. me and my new buddy patrick are going for lunch and then seeing walk the line - johnny cash baby - the coolest cat ever. i got into johnny cash off the first rick rubin produced album called amercian recordings. i then proceded to buy every album rubin produced for cash after that. i also boug

these last couple of days represent some of the most intense spiritual times in my life in 18 years. not since the urbana 87 missions conference has god touched my life in such a powerful way. my room mate is sleeping right now - it's almost 2 in the morning! so i can't really write that much - will tell you all the unbelievable things god has done at a later time. i just want you to know that our Creator loves each one of us so dearly and wants only the best for us - He wants to give us so mcuh of Himself, if only we will humble oursleves and let Him. we need to drop our masks and allow God's touch to penetrate the deepest parts of our being.

am in toronto at the national church planting congress - great speakers and over 1000 eager beaver canadian church planters trying to figure out what we're doing. have to admit i'm quite tired - was up at 6:00 and have had a pretty much full schedule up to 9:00 tonight. my room-mate went out to do karaoke but i just needed some down time - might order a pizza and catch some tv before crashing. god spoke to me through a little girl playing in a school playground today - will tell you about it later when my eyes are open.

tonight was the best first@night we have ever had. greg and mylene led worship and it was unbelievable - they did this one song "breath of god, breathe on me" which i guess is an old hymn that greg reworked - there was a moment when they stopped singing and greg kept playing and the congregation just kept singing - it was like a u2 concert - how long? i preached on lot and sodom and gomorrah - i have to tell you this sermon was quite interesting in how it came together. yesterday at about 5:00 i finished it in my office - i looked it over and wasn't really happy with it - but i decided i was too tired to polish it off. then this afternoon i looked it over and added a few things. when i preached it was one of the few times when i felt it was really god speaking, not me - i just have to get out of god's way. i came down quite strong against homophobia in the church and challenged us to overcome the "sin of sodom" in our lives which is simply gross selfishness

today was one of those typical grey and rainy vancouver days. had lunch with mark. went over some questions from purpose drive life - had a nice chat about leadership/management typse stuff. then went to banana republic and bought felicia's b-day present. she liked it. this afternoon i did some work on the first@night web-site which is coming along quite nicely thanks to the generosity of my old high-school buddy - joel milne-epp. he is also a u2 fanatic and has been a member of their fan club for quite some time - how long joel? felicia just left for work - mark called - he sounds bored. he wants me and adam to come over there. i had to remind him that adam is 14 mths. old and goes to sleep at about 8:00. going to watch last nights csi and try to finish up my sermon so that tomorrow is a bit more free. adam is walking in and out of my office for no apparent reason. i'm reading orthodoxy by g.k. chesterton for like the third time - he is such an astute writer and has kind of a

today was another big slog. major research on the sermon - sodom and gomorrah - yikes! looks like another difficult sermon to write. had coffee with the pastor of another downtown baptist church - shawn bellevue - really nice guy with a real heart for the downtown. it was nice getting together with him and chatting about life as a pastor and how to reach the downtown core. tonight was date night! yay! actually it's felicia's birthday on tuesday so i bought her some flowers - we left adam with a lady from our church who lives in our building. we went to this amazing italian restaurant called circolo. it was so good. check out what we had: appetizer - oysters w. creme fraiche, caviar and pureed tomato main course - duck in a cherry reduction / duck pasta desert - dark chocolate truffle yum yum!!! i have to confess eating at nice restaurants is a real weakness - unfortunately on a pastor's salary its not one i can readily get used to, unless someone is footing the bill. so on

it's 10:00 - law and order is playing in the background. my cousin cyril came over - we ordered a pizza and watched house. just hung out - it was fun. had lunch with my buddy trevor - he owns a couple of companies that do marketting and branding for other companies. he is giving me some advice for first@night gratis which is very nice of him - i paid for lunch but that's not much payment. i met trevor and his partner michelle through mark - good saskatchewan people. the afternoon i did major work trying to put together some pre-marital counselling for two diferent couples. i'm using a book by dennis rainey as the basis of the counselling. i got this book called blue like jazz - i forget the author's name but i really like it. he writes about his faith in a very relaxed conversational style - it is inspiring me to get back into writing - i haven't written an article for relevant magazine in a long time. its amazing - i only have to preach 3 more sermons this year! th

rolled into the office later then usual today - about 10:00. i think its ok considering i preached last night - a lot of people tell me i should take monday's off but i think i would just get bored. good service last night - difficult sermon but i think it came off ok - that abraham , what a character!- this week we're doing lot. still struggling with how to create a sense of community with our group. not as discouraged last night or this morning as i usually am - sun is shining which makes me happier then if it was pouring rain. today - start sermon research - emails, phone calls - i'm meeting with a guy who came to fan last night - his first time in a church in a long time - wants to talk to me about christianity - please pray for him. i'll tel you how it goes tomorrow. amazing grace is still pretty amazing. sn

we won! we won! had a chance to go to my annual rider game - i have gone to this game every year for the last 4 years. this year i went with about 20 other rider fans - it was awesome! wore green and white paint and everything. the game was quite dull - no touchdowns until the last minute - but we squeaked by 13-12. yesterday also saw capote with patrick - very very good. hoffman will get a nomination for best actor for sure and may even scoop it up. i went to a new church called urban community baptist - they meet in a hotel a block form our apt. i appreciate their sincerity but it was very very conservative - hymns and suits. but i hope they do well in reaching out to this tough soil. i'm meeting the pastor on thursday to get to know each other. i think he was a bit taken aback when i told him i actually work at another church - he asked if i was a member there, i said yes. hope he'll still meet with me. i would like to start an urban pastors network - a monthly time just to

today was a real grind - this is one of those very unglamorous dull days that everyone probably endures a few times a month, no matter what profession they are in. rolled into the office at around 8:30 - the office is usually really quiet on fridays, today was especially so - i was the only pastor and there were 2 office staff and one receptionist. i did some reading and finished up my preliminary research for my sermon. at 12:45 i spoke to the seniors friendship hour - it went well. at 1:00 we had our first@night prayer meeting. only patrick and felicia showed up. we only prayed for about 10 minutes. but i was glad they both came. i'm going to see jarhead tomorrow with patrick and his room-mate. at about 2:00 i got back to the sermon - its on abraham sacrificing isaac - one of the strangest texts int he whole bible. i really struggled with it - wasn't sure which way to go. at about 4:30 i finally came to the conclusion and think it will be ok. i left the office and walked down

Last night we had home group at our apt. We are studying "Renovation of the Heart" by Dallas willard. It is really good but a bit of a tough read. Someone in our group had asked that we pray for her last night for a potentially serious medical condition. Another girl in our group shared how she had suffered from very heavy bleeding for about 6 mths. It was getting so bad that she was advised to have her uterus taken out. She had never prayed for it, but a month ago when she was in our group she asked us to pray for her, without disclosing her ailment. We prayed. She did not bleed that night. She did not bleed the next day. The next week she still had not bled - she didn't want to call her doctor for fear of "jinxing" it! A month later she still has not bled. Just as Jesus healed the bleeding woman 2000 years ago, he healed my friend. So we laid hands on this other girl who had requested prayer. I annointed her with oil and we prayed. Then I asked for prayer. Las

forget what you're doing - sell your kids - GO RENT THIS MOVIE. saw this tonight - FANTASTIC. really really enjoyed it. grey rainy day in vancouver means my productivity hits the skids. sermon still needs to be written.