Dreams Unlocked

Well, I turned 37 today - ONE STEP CLOSER TO KNOWING... Time is so relentless in its pursuit of us. What was I doing when I was 16, 22, 30? Felicia surprised me at the school with a cake! It was really nice of her. I shared it with the other teachers and my students - it was really fun. Then we went to Lombardo's for pizza, which was also fun. I was reflecting tonight on what I hope to accomplish this year. I would just like to be found faithful in what God has called me to be: a good husband a good father a good pastor an innovator in ministry an effective communicator an evangelist If I can stay faithful to what He has called me to, then it will be a good year.

So, we did it - about 10 of us were at English Bay at 7:30 this morning to give a hand in picking up garbage. It was a nice morning for it. There were a few other people, including our M.L.A. - Lorne Mayencourt, we lent him some gloves to use. A homeless First Nations guy named Mervyn came up and asked us if any of us had any smokes. We said no. We offered him a muffin and a coffee. He eagerly accepted the offer, and then said he was going to keep "hunting the butts". Turns out Mervyn used to work at a Wendys in Winnipeg. But something happened and he has been homeless for over 10 years now. Mervyn would probably classify as someone who is terminally homeless - meaning it would be very difficult to help re-enter "normal" society - getting a job, living on his own, cooking, etc. Mervyn had a small plastic bag and a blanket - he said that was all he owned - someone had stolen all his stuff last night. Mervyn then wandered away for a bit. We shared some prayer requests...

Urban Sanctuary will be cleaning up the beach at 7:30 tomorrow morning. The fireworks were tonight, and there is usually a ton of garbage left behind. And since the garbage collectors are on site, it is up to volunteers to clean up. This is a great way to serve and love our community. I called up a couple of businesses - Starbucks is donating coffee and IGA is donating muffins and garbage bags, so when we are done we are going to have a light breakfast on the beach. Should be awesome. Felicia bought me some clothes for my birthday - a dressy shirt from Banana Republic, a tie from Mexx and pants from the Gap. All on sale. The pants were $20! A particularly good deal. Well I should catch some zzzzz's - I have to be up in about 6 hours.

I wish I had done this first. I believe this video was actually shot in Saskatoon, as a friend of mine, musician Paul Benjamin produced and does some back-up vocals on it. Rock on.

Felicia went to a live performance of Dancing With the Stars, with a friend of hers. I was alone with the kids. It was the first time I have had the kids for an extended period at night. Sophia rewarded my efforts by screaming from 7:30 - 10:00. The only time she was calm was when she was sleeping in my arms - I think I sense a future sermon illustration in that fact. Anyways, I'm tired. Night.

My review for Sicko was supposed to run last week in Relevant, but I haven't spotted it yet, so here it is: Sicko – Film Review Both my father and wife work within the Canadian health care system, so I was eager to see Moore’s perspective of the private system in the States and the socialized care found in Canada, the United Kingdom and France. (Moore also manages a trip to Cuba, for some real socialistic health care.) At this point of his career, Moore is the most bankable documentary film maker in the world (and likely in the history of the genre). And Sicko shows why. Moore shows his skill by weaving 50’s stock footage, with recent political sound-bites and touching real people stories. He also shows his skill at choosing the perfect music as background to the stories. Basically, Sicko preaches that the American health care system is sick. It has been poisoned through the greed of HMO’s and pharmaceutical companies that do whatever possible to deny care to patients, in ord...

Mayor Sam Sullivan checking out the Yaletown Street Party. Today was the annual Yaletown Street Party - the 2 major streets in Yaletown - hamilton and Mainland are shut down to traffic, and there are a bunch of different activities going on, including a lot of live music. Well, the weather sort of dampened things today - it was raining and cloudy all day. So it didn't seem as much fun as previous years. We did see the mayor roll through, however. He's having a tough time, with a massive civic strike underway - expect to see a lot of garbage on the streets. I also find out that I make roughly the same salary as a Vancouver garbageman. I should see if I can work as a scab during the strike. I would like to recommend the use of a couple of resources for daily prayer: Celtic Daily Prayer - A collection of daily devotionals, along with a rythym for daily prayer offices. The Divine Hours - Phylis Tickle is someone I have discovered just recently. She has written several prayer guide...

Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. I have been meditating and pondering on that thought for the past few days. Many of us, once we reach our 30's realize our lives are not panning out the way we thought. I know two women, both in their 30's - one is going through a divorce, and another has been passed over in a career promotion she was counting on. The one going through the divorce said - I thought my life was going to be different. I thought by now I would have a family of my own. Instead, I am dividing property, speaking to my ex through a lawyer and living alone again. She is one of the broken hearted. Her heart, her dreams, her expectations have been broken. Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted. Jesus came for her. What does Jesus do - Does he reconcile her with her ex-husband? Does he bring her a great Christian guy? He might. Instead I think he takes the broken parts of our lives and binds them together. The adhesive is his love. Jesus does not always change the...

Maude Lebowski : What do you do for recreation? The Dude : Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback. I have been teaching for 10 days now. In those 10 days, I have either walked or rode my bike to the school. My school is smack dab in the middle of the Central Business District of Vancouver - surrounded by high office towers. When you are there, you really feel you are in a teeming metropolis. Even though we live downtown, in Yaletown, it doesn't always feel as urban as you might think. But this walk/bike commute is making me feel very very urban - far more then when I walked the 8 blocks to First Baptist, a couple of years ago, when I had an office there. I think it is because where I work now feels much more congested. It is exciting, but the thrill wears off quickly. I'm not ready to move to a farm, but I have to say when Saturday rolls around, I am less reluctant to waddle down Robson or deal with the throngs at Granville Island. I would much rath...

I saw the incredibly riveting documentary "Deliver us From Evil." It follows one particular Catholic Priest's journey of molestation and rape of children through several parishes in California. The film paints the hierarchy of the Catholic church in a terrible light - cover up, deception, etc. I was deeply moved by the film and I am working on an article for Relevant - It is ironic that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles awarded $660 million to victims of these pedophile priests. We watched part of Larry King tonight as he spoke with some of the survivors. I have a lot to say about the tendency of institutions to protect themselves and poistions of power, while disposing of victims, but I'll save it for my article. Had an AWESOME gathering last night. We talk about the correlation between prayer and revival. Then we split up in pairs and "prayer walked" through Yaletown. I have included the breakdown of the Lord's Prayer below: The Lord’s Prayer contextualiz...

Well - a whole 4 days since my last post. I reviewed "Sicko" for Relevant Magazine - I think the review will run on Monday - will link to it from here. Working M-F, really makes me relish my weekends more - the luxury of sleeping in! Lounging around, reading, going to a movie! Today I saw Live Free and Die Hard - about a 6/10 - it was ok, a few good scenes - I think the first Die Hard is still the best. Then tonight we had a bar-b-q at Locarno Beach near UBC with Felicia's Mom's group from FBC. It was pretty fun, meeting some of the other husbands - all really nice people. Tonight I am just relaxing - We didn't rent a video - Out of Sight and Minority Report are on tv - Felicia's watching that, while I'm on here. Tomorrow - finish up service prep., do a little long term planning - we have a leadership meeting as well, which I need to prep. for as well. Funniest thing - In the school that I teach at, we team-teach - that means that there are 2 teachers/clas...

So - I am sort of settling into this pattern of being an ESL teacher. It's ok - I haven't really gotten to know any of the other teachers yet - but it's coming. There are a lot of great things about living in Vancouver: mountains, ocean, great restaurants, good concerts, professional football and hockey, close proximity to Seattle, Whistler and Victoria, etc. But I think on of my all time favourite things is biking through some of the trails in Stanley Park - you make a turn off of the seawall and all of a sudden you are in the middle of this pristine forest. I usually take my headphones and just enjoy the silence and beauty of the surroundings. Anyways - not much else to jot down on here.

My sporadic blogging is evidence of the business surrounding the transition into my new job as an ESL teacher. I have now taught for 3 days. The school I teach at feels more like a business, then a school. All the male teachers are required to wear ties - I have barely worn a tie since I worked at the national offices of Campus Crusade more then 10 years ago. I have probably 5 ties, and maybe 3 dress shirts that look decent enough to wear. I have one hideous red tie with birds on it. I teach 2 different classes. One class are elementary English speakers - very, very basic. This class has students from Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. My other class are Intermediate speakers - at a higher level. This class has students from Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Peru and Mexico. I really like this class - they are very genuine and enthusiastic about life, really fun to teach. This week, I was basically guided to the text book and told to start teaching. I was really out of it, ...

I just finished prepping for FOUR lessons for tomorrow! It is now 1 AM. I have to be at the school at 8:30. Will hit the hay soon. Today I met my class: 2 girls - one from Korea and one from Japan 6 guys - one from Switzerland and 5 from Saudi Arabia (!) Also have a church meeting and a tennis game after teaching tomorrow - and then prep for the next day, tomorrow night! I forgot to post that I saw 7 Samurai last night on the big screen. 7 Samurai is one of the greatest films of all time. It is truly amazing: 3.5 hrs. long black and white in japanese w. English subtitles made in 1954 Yet - it is still a gripping movie, that holds your attention for the whole time. I venture to guess that there are University level courses taught on this film, or at least on Kurosawa as a film maker. Kurosawa was influenced by the Western genre, in turn Seven Samurai influenced the American remake "Magnifecent 7" and many spagheti westerns to follow. Even George Lucas claims that 7 Samurai had...

I start teaching tomorrow - PRAY FOR ME. Well, I only have one class - but on Wed. I enter the full teaching schedule. I teach from 9-1 from M-F. But will probably get to the school at 8 to prepare. I teach 4 classes a day, 5 days a week which works out to 20 different lessons/week! I thought this was supposed to be part-time! Had a nice time at the jazz festival - Welches, Delgados and Brent were there. We gave free bottles of water to the people working at the booths there, which was nice of us. I hope we can continue to do acts of kindness in our community - blessed to be a blessing. I am currently putting together a sermon series for the summer - will probably go over the core values and vision/mission of the church. Thinking of trying to pull all the church planters in Vancouver together for monthly meetings to pray and encourage each other.