Dreams Unlocked

Here's the news I have been hiding under my own hat: 1. 2 Sundays ago we had 10 people when we started our service - that includes my family. Not counting the leadership team I think there were 3 people in attendence. Sooooo..... I started to think that God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life but IT AIN'T HERE!!!! On Sept 18 2005 first@night started. Our 10 person service was on Sept. 17 - 2 days later (Sept. 19) I read these words in 2 Cor. 8: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work , so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. This passage pierced right through me. I read these words 1 year and 1 day after launching this ministry!! I need to FINISH THE WORK. The other thing this passage showed me is that I was looking ...

Did some more driving for the Film Festival today. This morning I drove 5 people: A university professor from Madison Wisconsin - super nice guy who specializes in Hong Kong Cinema. Jan Triska - character actor from the Czech Republic who has lived in Los Angeles for the past 30 years. He is in a film called "Insanity", which looks pretty much like it sounds. Nice guy as well. Alexandra Cunningham - producer of Desperate Housewives!!! She was really cool. She had also worked on NYPD Blue which I told her was one of my favourite shows. We had a great time chatting. Her partner/boyfriend also came - he was a real cool cat - really serene about everything. Ronit Avni - Israeli American film maker who made the film Encounter Point . This film is about Israeli and Palestinian families that have both encountered loss. Avni has been featured on Oprah and her film was shown at Tribeca. She was super nice and tiny! I also got to know a lot of the other people that work at the festiv...

Felicia and Adam looking over Tofino's waves. So I have been negligent in my blogging duties - all apologies. This is one of those weeks that I wish I could clone myself so I could get everything done, that needs to be done. My much anticipated 20 mile run was cruelly cut down to 6 miles due to time constraints today. Today was the first day on the job as a volunteer at the Vancouver International Film Festival . I am a driver - I pick up guests of the festival and take them to the Festival Hospitality Suite located in the Crown Plaza Gerorgia Hotel downtown. This morning I picked up Chris White . He is a producer for the POV series on PBS. They look like they make some really thoughtful films. Some of the documentaries I had actually heard of before - like the Boys Of Baraka . Anyways - Chris is a fine fellow. Has lived in New York his whole life, married with 3 kids. It's kind of funny when people find out I am a pastor at the film festival - they can't figure out what ...

Went for a run with Adam in the jogging stroller yesterday. It was a beautiful day as we maneuvered around latte drinking strollers along the sewall. The jogging stroller has a type of plastic window through which I can look down and see Adam. As we were running, Adam looked through it at me and yelled "Hi!" I yelled hi back and poked my finger into the plastic. He started giggling like crazy, thinking this is the greatest thing ever. We played with each other back and forth like this for a couple of minutes, and I thought, this is magic, this is wonderful, this is beauty. Later on I glanced down to my right and saw the tide coming over perfect sand and again it was magic. There is beauty all around us if we have eyes to see. Ok - On Wednesday I promise to come clean about all the happenings going on in my life and in the life of first@night. Here's some Boyd, been a long time coming: In the name of the one who taught us not to lord over others but rather to serve them, t...

Some amazing news last night. I will be making a more publi announcement in the coming weeks. keeping things under wraps for a little bit. Let me just say - it is quite exciting, thrilling, etc. etc. God is good and is in control. He is in the shadows of our lives waiting to reveal Himself. We had home group tonight - only 4 of us, due to the torrential downpour. Vancouver skipped autumn and went straight into winter. Started Inside Out - looks promising.

I love this picture - That is Mount Baker, the moon and the wing of the plane. It was taken in August on our flight back from Saskatchewan. Click on it to see the larger image. Ran 13 miles today. I was supossed to run 15, but didn't have enough time. It was beautiful - sunny. Ran through Stanley Park - it was magical hearing the waves smash up against the sea-wall. I know I was pretty cryptic yesterday, but I really can't get into it. But... God revealed something amazing to me from His Word - it was bang on for what we were dealing with. I have started reading a book by Parker Palmer - Palmer is sort of in the Buechner style of writing. He is a Quaker. I like what these guys say about "listening to your life". We need to listen to our lives, but this requires quiet and sometimes solitude - something that is lacking in our world, unless you live on a farm or an acreage. But we can carve out sacred space if we want to. That's what monks did - they created beauty i...

Today is my day off. But I still had to work - I have to prepare a report for the pastors tomorrow. But it shouldn't take too long. Last night was a bit of a turning point for me in terms of my ministry and calling. I can't really get into it - but please pray for me - We are facing some important decisions. Some clarity will hopefully come in the next few weeks. A couple of nights ago someone had loaned us a car for the weekend. On Saturday night we went throught the Wendy's drivethrough for some burgers. At this particulat Wendy's the drive-thru window and the entrance into the restuarant are at the same level due to a slope - a guy was sitting in front of the restaurant begging - so after we got our food as we drove by - he was exactly eye level to me as I drove by him with his outstretched cap. Now that is ingenuity! I don't think he lasted long as the staff soon came out to kick him out. Please pray for us about these decisions coming our way. sn

Students leave Dawson College after shooter opens fire. Man - I am still shocked at that tragedy in Montreal. Please pray for the families of the victims - what a mess. Deep down in the soul of that killer was something sick and damaged - something, dare I say it? - demonic. I am stunned at how little "spiritual" talk there is in our churches. We are embarresed to talk about demonic powers because the world will mock us. Sorry, demons are real and they wreak havoc in this world all the time. Worked on sermon this morning. Went out to New West on the Skytrain - haven't done that in awhile. Nice way to see parts of greater Vancouver that I don't normally see. Had lunch with my former pastor Sam Chaise. Sam pastors a church called Olivet Baptist. Had a good discussion about how to do church - the joys, frustrations, etc. Sam did what I am presently doing. He started a service called The Connection in Saskatoon, so he had a lot of insight into what I am going through. Wen...

Chandy and Adam hanging out. Went for a 10 mile run today. It was a beautiful day. Here's the thing - if you e-mail me or call me between Sunday night and Monday night, you will not hear back from me until Tuesday morning, or more likely Tuesday afternoon. I have decided to unplug on Mondays - no phone and no e-mail. If I have preached on Sunday night, my brain is so fried that I need the next day to fully decompress. I made the mistake of booking a speaking opportunity Monday at noon, followed by a meeting at the church at 1:30. By the time I got to the meeting at the church I was yawning and spacing out. I find if I do take the time off on Monday, I am way more effective the rest of the week. So if you call or e-mail me on monday, I am not ignoring you. I am putting myself back together. On that note - I had 25 e-mails this afternoon and 5 phone messages, which took up most of my afternoon. Between 4:00 and 7:00 today, I recieved 15 more e-mails. I'm sure if my internet conne...

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN FOR THEY WILL BE COMFORTED.

Modern Times by Bob Dylan has debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. This is hist first #1 album in 30 years. It sold close to 200 000 copies in its first week of release. Tickets for his Vancouver show go on sale tomorrow. I'm going to buy at least 1 - anyone want to go with me? My wife loves me, but she won't go. Man - what a day! Had a meeting at 7 AM!!! Meetings at that time can never be good - but this one was. Met with our church planting director - swell guy. Went over some bumps and looked at how things could improve for first@night. This meeting was followed by a meeting with Cam Roxbourough. Cam is a mjor dude in church planting in Canada and thinking missionally for churches. This was an excellent meeting as we sought out ways to connect what he is doing with what I am doing. The future looks bright. Went for a massage with a guy therapist at a new place. (Through Felicia's medical coverage we get massages bascially for free). This guy used so much pressure I tho...

Trying to navigate working form home. Now that I am back to a regular preaching cycle, it might get a bit tough. The problem is my home office has a glass door, so Adam can see me and he bangs on the door and yells until I go pick him up. So in between the parsing of Hebrew verbs and Old Testament contextual studies I have to pick up my son and hold him, or at least acknowledge his presence. I think I can live with that. Today he has started saying "Hi man!". On sunday I am preaching on Genesis 37 - the beginning of the Joseph narrative in scripture. We have entitled the series "G.I.F.G" - God Intends for Good. It is taken from the end of Genesis where Joseph reassures his brothers that God has redeemed their evil actions - God Intended it For Good. If you are in the Vancouver area join us Saunday nights at 6:30 at 969 Burrard St. downtown. You won't be disappointed - well you might, but don't tell me about it. More Greg Boyd: "The Kingdom of God is uni...

Biked a lot today. Met with Dale at his new house in Strathcona. Strathcona is such a wierd area. It is a very nice area with beautiful houses and lots of trees and parks. But it borders the downtown east-side which is such a rough area. I've noticed lately that wherever I go now, I wonder if there are any churches in the area, or how I would go about planting a church there. Like Strathcona, how would I plant a church there? No idea. I just cracked a new book: "The Myth of a Christian Nation" by Greg Boyd . This guy rules. I've decided to put some excerpts into all of my posts until I finish the book. "For some evangelicals, the Kingdom of God is largely centered on "taking America back for God", voting for the Christian candidate, outlawing abortion, outlawing gay marriage, winning the culture war, defending pol. freedom at home and abroad, keeping the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance, fighting for prayer in the public schools...

Television personality and environmentalist Steve Irwin has died after being stung by a stingray while filming off north Queensland. RIP Steve. I RAN 20 MILES TODAY. Read that again - I ran for 3 hours STRAIGHT. I ran from Yaletown to the edge of the University. I ran along the seawall, across the Burrard bridge, along the beaches - Kits, Jericho, Lorcano and finally Spanish Banks. I was fine until 2 hr.s and 51 minutes where I though for sure I was going to collapse. But the last half, I ran really pretty strong. I think I am going to be in pretty good shape for the marathon. We watched "Millions" with a couple people from church. It is a fantastic film.

I love this picture Of Adam - the way the sunlight is behind his head. Went for Brunch at Milestone's - a regular Saturday family event. Came home - did some reading and some paperwork. Today was supossed to be my long run - 20 miles. I had been psyching myself up all week for it. I decided to have a power nap - 10 minutes. I woke up 2 hours later!!! No time for my run. Going to try to do it on Wednesday instead. Tonight we sort of celebrated. Felicia worked 2 overtime shifts, which pay double time. So we were able to go out for dinner - a rare luxury for us (usually saved for birthdays or anniverseries). We went to Yoshi on Denman. Man this place is amazing - unbelievable soft shell crab. Yoshi on Denman is basically at the other end of downtown from us. But it was so nice out we walked there and back. Adam entertained everyone in all the stores we went into. There are a lot of disappointments and discouragements in life but tonight made me think that I have a pretty good life.