Running away


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 in desert places. And that's what we need to do to - create a place for beauty, quiet and solitude.

That's what I do when I go on my personal retreats to Boewen and every morning when I light a candle and reflect on God's Word.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whine and Geez

Image
Last night we hosted a wine and cheese party for our floor. Out of the 11 other people that live on our floor, 5 came over. It was really fun. We had 3 kinds of cheese, crackers, red wnd white wine, baklava, fruit and other goodies. It was really great getting to know some of the folks on our floor. We have always talked about doing it so it was nice to finally pull it off. One of our neigbours is a concierge at the 4 seasons. She said one of the oddest guest requests was a guest from Texas who wanted 100 A&W ketchup packets. He said he really liked their ketchup - I guess. Finished " Joyful Exiles " so unfortunately no more excerts for you - buy the book. Have moved on to " A Grief Observed " by C.S. Lewis . This might seem like an odd choice - I'm not really grieving the death of anyone or anything like that. I just have a personal goal of reading everything Lewis wrote. In the past few weeks I've finished Miracles and Mere Christianity (sorry - I got ...
Read more

Coaster goes up (a little)

Image
Unused photo from the Globe and Mail shoot. So, last night and all day today I was on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Quite auspicious surroundings for church council/pastors meetings! there were stunning views of the North Shore mountains, Stanley Park and the downtown buildings. The meetings were lengthy, exhausting and a lot of work. Basically, FBC has been on a year long journey of crafting its vision statement and core values - we did it with the assistance of a coach from Outreach Canada. We are coming down the home stretch and needed to hammer out everything for presentation to the congregation. Today was the first day that I have begun to feel lighter and ready to resume the work. Although still feeling wounded from this whole mess, I'm ready to limp on. It's true: Sunday,Monday - elation at finally reaching a goal of holding a first@night service in a trendy nightclub - excitement at getting press coverage - even thoug...
Read more

Oh no, Dr. Montgomery!

Image
"Healthcare in the heart of Yaletown - if you can afford it" For the past 6 years I have had the same physician: Dr. Brian Montgomery. We are quite close and I call him Brian. He knows me inside and out (literally). This is the longest period of time I have had the same doctor. We have quite a good relationship. I've invited he and his partner over to our place, but we've never been able to sync our schedules up. Well, I am sad to say our professional relationship is over. Brian will no longer be my doctor. I made the decision earlier this evening. As I was watching the news, Brian's face all of a sudden popped up - His clinc - the Mainland Clinic - is now going to start charging its patients to make appointments. The fees are going to be $30/appt. or $75 for the year to become a "member" of the clinic. The only motivation I can see is obviosuly money. The physcians obviously decided that the amounts they were billing the government was not enough. I hol...
Read more