Dreams Unlocked

This is my church - I mean my ENTIRE church: Urban Sanctuary - 16 adults + 4 kids = 20 saints. Felicia gave me a rare gift today - an afternoon out. Usually I spend Monday afternoons caching a matinee, then reading in a coffee shop, or shopping. This has been my first one since Sophia. In turn, Felicia gets a similar time out this week. I went and saw " The Lookout " - it was pretty good. Jeff Daniels is in it. Then I picked up a DVD, then headed down to the Irish Heather for a pint. The Heather is my favorite pub in Vancouver. At the movie, one of my dreams ALMOST came true. I go to a lot of obscure films, and I usually go during the day. Consequently, there is usually only a handful of people in the theater. I've always fantasized about being the ONLY PERSON in the theatre during a film - pretending it was a special screening JUST FOR ME. Well, for 2 trailers, my fantasy seemed to becoming reality.... and then some middle aged couple ambled in and ruined everything.

YOGA BABY! YALETOWN DADDY -Notice the Green Tea Frappucino held carefully! After 2 days of torrential winter-like rain, we have a beautiful day, which reminds you why you live in such a beautiful city. Bright warm sunshine. So - it was Sophia's first day exploring our community. 1. Provence restaurant in Yaletown. This is a nice restaurant right on the water. 2. The church - a little admin stuff and a quick feed. 3. The Gap - I am not much of a shopper, but I am a real sucker for cute kids clothes. We got her a pink "yoga" outfit - a hoodie and those yoga lululemon like pants that just about every female in Yaletown wears. 4. Future Shop to pick up some pics. 5. The bank to pick up some $. 6. Home 7. Starbucks to show her off to some friends there. 8. The playground for Adam to play a bit. 9. Drugstore. 10. Video store - picked up Casino Royale - I've seen it, but Felicia hasn't. 11. My hair salon, for my stylist Angela to see - everyone came over to ooh and aahh....

I have inherited this crazy book buying gene from my Father. Ever since I can remember we have had a lot of books in our home - I mean A LOT - like a full library. When my Dad hits Regent bookstore, it's like a gambler hitting Vegas - they should put his picture up in there. My dad probably has 6 or 7 COMPLETE Commentary sets of the Bible. His library would be the envy of most pastors. I realize I have way too many books, so I have started purging. I'm trying to sell some of the better titles, and I am giving away the rest. I am also in the process of re-arranging all my books - there is actually going to be some kind of semblance to order to all these books. I just glanced over at my shelves - MAN I HAVE A LOT OF BOOKS. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton is one of my favorite books of all time. Indeed, this book and Mere Christianity re-affirmed my faith to me, when I was going through a tough time. Chesterton had a unique way of flipping things on their head - seeing things from to...

I was trying to write an article today and got stuck. Usually when I sit down to do an article, it flows pretty good. I wrote about half of it and then deleted the whole thing in frustration. Then I had this idea for writing a book - I thought I would try to write a "confession" of my faith - an explanation of why I follow Jesus, that would be relevant to other pop culture afficionados, who are sometimes frustrated by the tethers of institutional Christianity. Or those who have never ever considered the Christian faith. I wrote a paragraph, then went back and deleted the whole thing. AUGH!!!! My friend Mark Buchanan says that writer's block is a myth. He says, that writing is like working out - you just do it, even if you don't feel like doing it. He should know, he's written 5 books. Anyways - it was frustrating for me. I gave Sophia a bath today. Adam climbed all over me, while I was trying to read. It was a good day.

Hockey first - The Canucks won tonight. I am honestly surprised, but pleased. My prediction had been Dallas 2-1 in OT, but Vancouver pulled it together. It got pretty gnarly in the 3rd pd. Luongo who is by far one of the best goalies ever, made the best save I have ever seen tonight. The puck was just traveling so fast. It is almost 2 hours after the game and I can still hear revelers screaming and honking their joy at our victory. I wonder what Granville is going to look like tonight. Anyways - we face Anaheim on Wednesday for the conference final - I am now officially a Canucks fan - I plan on buying some sort of indication of my support this week - a t-shirt or hat or something, and probably a sleeper for Sophia. Adam already has a t-shirt. Facebook - Someone invited me to join this thing. I'm in and hooked - this thing is amazing - a great way of keeping in touch with people. Had our book-club tonight. 15 people off of Craigslist had indicated interest, but only 1 confirmed th...

Showed the beauty off tonight at Urban Sanctuary. She was a big hit - it was quite interesting. All the females gathered around - and all the guys were at the other end of the room talking about .... engines? I don't know. Preached a sermon tonight! I had a baby, and still had time to write a sermon!!! In Ephesians 3, Paul talks about knowing the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. How can we know something in a way which surpasses knowledge? I think there is a knowledge which is deeper then intellectual knowledge - How do we know we are in love - WE JUST KNOW. The emotional knowledge is deeper then intellectual knowledge - then spiritual knowledge would be deeper still. I think this is what Paul is getting at. And it is for this reason, I think that evidential apologetics will no longer be as popular as it was a generation ago - we will still need it - but what we will need even more are small communities of people who will build deep relaitonships with those around us.

This was my first day back to work in a sense. I started working on Sunday's service and my sermon on Eph. 4:1-6 - the characteristics of the beloved community. In ch's 2-3 of Ephesians, Paul has been stating that this new hybrid community of Jews and non-Jews has been brought into being. Now he starts to explain what this new community actually looks like. But, I got bogged down in the bloated in-box of my e-mail. We have started working with a designer on a new logo for urban sanctuary - I was hunting around for some help on-line. This is a cool site if you are looking for help in this area. Adam continues to warm up to his sister - this whole socialization process has been fascinating to watch. I have the seed of a magazine article in my head - I will probably try to write it tonight. I am entitling it "Latent Love". Latent Love is the love we have inside of us which has not been enlightened or animated. I love Sophia - but that love was latent inside of me, until...

Do you like how I managed to coordinate my shirt with the hospital sheet? Also, Sophia and I in solidarity of the clenched fist. Just got home from the hospital. Everyone is sleeping except for me - but I think I am going to sleep soon. Sophia has a little jaundice and has to go back to the hospital for some more blood work tomorrow. She is wearing a dress, which is so big it looks more like a blanket. Adam is definitely warming up to her, and is bringing her toys to play with.

Sophia continues to be perfect. Eating and sleeping well, (and the other thing they do). Felicia is in a lot of pain, and I would ask you to please pray for her - her abdominal muscle has stretched and is very thin. So she is in a LOT of pain, and is finding it hard to get around. I will be sticking around home a lot more in the coming days and weeks.

Sophia Grace Leela Ninan showed up yesterday morning at 8:30 A.M. She weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz, - about 2 lbs. lighter then her older brother when he made his debut. And..... she's beautiful. Felicia had a C-section that went very well - Sophia came out, and was totally healthy. An added bonus, was that our maternity nurse was Carol Anderson - wife of one of our former pastors: Greg Anderson. My mom - the original Leela is helping out in a big way - an extra pair of arms to carry the baby around, more meals get made and we all feel a little better having a pro around - after all she raised 3 kids, including me, which already puts her in a whole new sphere of sainthood. Sophia is doing great - although she tends to snooze off while feeding from her mom. Felicia is going through the usual aches and pains that most moms do, as their bodies re-adjust to the massive physiological change that has just taken place. I can't get over how radiant and glowing her face looks, though. She looks ...

Laughing Ran my 6th Sun Run this morning. This is one of my high-lights of the year. Ran it in 1 hour, which was 10 minutes slower then I had wanted, but still pretty good for virtually no training. Mom came in last night - she is hear to help out w. the baby - WHICH ARRIVES TOMORROW AT 8 AM VIA C-SECTION!!!! Looking forward to meeting you Sophia Ninan. Spent the day at a series of meeting with Michael Frost . Frost wrote THE BEST book EVER on the missional church: The Shaping of Things To Come. I have read 10 books on the emergent/missional church and this one is head and shoulders above all the others. If you are at all interested in the future of the church in the west, you have to read this book. Our leadership team is reading it together, and are loving it. Frost was gold - lots of food for thought, and good interaction around table discussions. I only wish it had been better publicized - seemed a lot of pastors were missing.

This is the longest I have gone w.out updating. All apologies. Chalk it up to a lot of people wanting a piece of the Santosh. Will add more later (hopefully).

This is an interesting shot - You can see Felicia shushing Adam, as I read the account of Jesus resurrection from Matthew 28. Went and saw The Host today. This is a South Korean horror thriller about a sea monster that starts attacking people in Seoul. Don't worry - it is much much better then it sounds. One of the closing scenes is absolutely breath taking in the interplay of the classical music and a family working together to kill the monster. It is the highest grossing South Korean film of all time. It has also been screened at Cannes - this is a feat in itself - thousands of films are submitted but only a few dozen are selected to be screened. Anyways, I liked it. Joel reminded me of my very first car - I must have suppressed the memory - it was a 74 corolla wagon, w. fake wood paneling - it was our family's first car in Canada. My dad bought it new at a Toyota dealership in Toronto. That car took us on many long long family trips across North America - what is amazing is...

Urban Sanctuary - Easter 2007 Cam is right - we had a 97 Beetle, not a 87 one. This week-end has been pretty great. Good Friday, we went to Grandivew Calvary's Good Friday service at night. It was a very nice, contemplative service and Adam was sooo good - stayed quiet through the whole thing. We took Kaelinn - a friend who lives in our building and is also part of our church. Yesterday we went to an Easter party at a local community center - Adam got to do an Easter Egg Hunt, and play games. It was fun. Brent and Jason stayed over last night. We had planned to go to a sunrise service - since both of them come in form New West. we decided it woudl be easiest if they just came with us, so they slept over. The sunrise service was a soaker, but it was nice. Then everyone came over for brunch after - that was a really good time. Great food, and just an overwhelming sense of a warm community together. Jason took some amazing pics - I have posted just a couple above.

Jordon (see sidebar under friends) blogged about how he and his wife have been hunting for a new car. So I thought I would write about the cars I have had: Station Wagon / Oldsmobile 88 - Both were my parents. I didn't mind the wagon - the Olds was like a total Dad's car. 1988 Chevrolet Sprint - this was a sweet ride until my Dad totalled it. 1987 VW Jetta - I got this car cheap, but I always felt sorta proud driving it, until I tried to drive it through a cab at the corner of Howe and Smithe in Vancouver. 1974 - VW Rabbit - This was a sweet ride until it committed suicide. 1987 VW Beetle - It was cool, but the novelty wore off pretty fast. 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe - We bought this as we await the arrival of baby #2. We decided to buy a larger vehicle for convenience. It is an SUV, but at least it is a small one. DVD's It was a day of DVD shopping. I bought the following: Life of Brian Jesus of Nazareth Wings of Desire Don't Look Back - Dylan documentary film from the 60...

My friend John Santic (see side-bar for link) blogged about sermon preparation, which has prompted me to share my thoughts. I am a bit of an anomoly among my generation. The trend today in preaching in my generation is to follow a narrative arc - to tell stories - narratives working out of the meta-narrative of the Biblical story. I am still kicking it old school w. careful biblical exegesis. In fact, I use the guide for pastors at the end of Gordon Fee's seminal work New Testament Exegesis. So this is how I prepare: 1. Select the passage. Read it in it's context. Read it several times in several different translation. 2. Mark words or phrases that are repeated. 3. Write down themes that emerge. 4. Write my own translation from the Greek. 5. Consult 2 or 3 of the best commentaries and see what the scholars say. 6. Write an outline of the sermon - including 1 major theme.At this point I am also finding the connection to contemporary life. 7. Write the sermon. The part I like the...

Both the National Post and Vancouver magazine have had a few good articles on eco-density and the spaces that we live in. Eco-density refers to an initiative to lower our environmental footprint by supporting density that is high quality, attractive, more energy efficient, and respects neighbourhood character. Our mayor has jumped all over this thing. The National Post article over the weekend was a contrast piece to the one published today. The one on the weekend concerned the drive to build "McMansions". They profiled the largest house in Canada which is located in Abbotsford(!). At 47 000 square feet is probably close to the size of a department store. The house is currently listed at 9.9 million - the owner has poured over 25 million into it, but his health is failing and he can not live in it. There were also profiles of the large number of people moving into 4000 sq. feet and larger homes. Today's article focused on the other extreme - people moving into smaller sp...