Dreams Unlocked

Today, about 4:00. (Bad Euro-techno is playing loudly on a cheap portable system in the background). It's rare to have a day as warm as today, when its almost October. But, it was a hot hot day. The Vancouver Film Festival started on Friday. This is my favorite two weeks of the year in Vancouver. Its different this year - I'm not volunteering, and I live too far away to go to as many films as I'd like. I will miss the people I have worked with for the last 2 years at the festival, and the killer party they have at the end! I had planned on going to a Thai film this afternoon about a village rebuilding itself after the Tsunami. But, it was just too hot and sunny to spend the afternoon in a darkened theatre with a bunch of other film geeks. So, I packed up the family and headed to White Pine Beach to soak up the rays one last time before the rains come to wash away our joy. It was fun, except for the people who insisted on playing their brutal music really loud. The only resp...

I can't believer its been almost 2 weeks since my last post. What's been happening? My friend wrote a book and its really good. I am going to order a few copies for some friends. I've been involved with all kinds of delicate ministerial/leadership matters. I have come to the conclusion that leading a church is sort of like being on the end of a plank all by yourself, doing acrobatic manouevers which allow a variety of balls to stay in the air. There's no one else out there. A few people come running out and either help or don't help - but mainly you're on your own out there. I've been running. The owners of the house we are renting came home briefly before heading overseas to Cambridge. We had an awesome time hanging out with them. My parents left for China, where my dad is teaching at the University of Shanghai for a month. I preached 2 sermons on Exodus chapters 1 and 2. We started a Young Adults Bible Study in our home. Felicia started a Mom's group a...

Negotiating the space between. I went to a meeting in Vancouver today with some church planters and other pastors. We watched a video of a mega-church pastor from America who shared his greatest leadership decision. And the decision was..... to only work 45 hrs/week. I know - doesn't sound so great. He explained that he was not going to devote his life to the church, and miss out on his family. Instead, he was going to devote time to his family, and miss out on certain church activities. Family first, ministry second. It was basically about life balance, and I thought it was excellent. The question that I raised for my ministry colleagues was that in some ways we do not have "normal" jobs with "normal" hours. That is, when Brian in my church died last week. I couldn't say, I'm done work for the day and couldn't go to the hospital. In some circumstances we simply need to put in time, after we are "done" for the day. Another thing I learned t...

Cute walk. My stupid router is acting up again. I keep going off-line, and when I'm on-line, its super-slow. ARGHHH!!!! We had our "Home Opener" today, which is an event where we invited the community to our church to check it out. We had a free barbecue after. Note - I am now writing this a day later because the internet kept going out. I spent 30 minutes w. Ronald from Delhi who led me out of the wireless wilderness. Home Opener - lower numbers then expected, but we still had a great time. Been dealing w. all kinds of craziness lately - this too shall pass. Saw "Burn Before Reading". More Coen brothers craziness. Good, but not great. But good for the Coen brothers is better then most others.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: whatever you think a pastor's job is, it is never boring. Example: I'm cozily nestled in my home office reading the book of Exodus (doesn't sound exciting, but it is). I am starting a new sermon series next week on Exodus. Whenever I start a new book series, I start by reading through the book in several different translations. Then, I start to divide up the book, according to the passages I want to preach on. Finally, I schedule it out - With Exodus, I'm thinking it will be over a 4 mth. period. Anyways, I just finish reading about the hardening of Pharoah's heart when my phone rings. A guy from our church was walking his dogs last night, had a massive heart attack and died. Well, he's on life support with no brain acitivity. I head down to the hospital and enter one of the most surreal episodes of my ministry career. I spend some time with the wife and step-son, praying and just being there with them. The wif...

Ok - here's another list. But w. 10 different artists, instead of U2 dominating the stats. Shins, Cash, Ritter, and then... 4. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley. Big hit last year. Catchy. Odd band, though. 5. Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep. 6. Harry's Game - Clannad - This is an amazing song that appeared on the Patriot Games soundtrack - very haunting. 7. Everything in its right Place - Radiohead. This makes it up there because I used it in concert w. an a/v presentation on the passion of christ. 8. Love Sick - Dylan. "I'm walking through streets that are dead.... I'm sick of love." Need I say more? 9. Lovers In a Dangerous Time - Barenaked Ladies. The only re-make that is better then the original (by Bruce Cockburn). The video is very Canadian. 10. Lord of the Starfields - Bruce Cockburn. I think this song is about his conversion.

Top 10 played songs on my itunes player: 1. New Slang - The Shins - Catchy song w. weird lyrics. 2. Devils' Right Hand - Johnny Cash - Another catchy song by one of my favorite artists of all time. 3. Girl in the War - Josh Ritter - Saw this guy on Letterman and thought he was swell. 4. Miracle Drug - U2 5. Sometimes you can't make it on your own - U2 6. I Will Follow - U2 7. Vertigo - U2 8. Love and Peace or Else - U2 9. City of Blinding Lights - U2 10. One Step Closer - U2 (5 more U2 songs are numbers 11-15) All the U2 songs, except for Follow, are off of Atomic Bomb, which is simply a fantastic album.

Our neighbor. Finally unpacked and settled in. (Linksys seems to be ok - Jamie). My home office is almost set up - I really love it, mainly because it has a huge wooden desk, where I can lay out a lot of books. I wish it had a door, though - the young 'uns wander in quite often. Interesting day. Went to the bank and ran into a mother and son from the church. Then I went through the A&W drive-thru and the guy who handed me my junk food, had been at the church for the first time on Sunday - he recognized me and introduced himself. I wanted to pretend the teen burger and root beer wasn't for me. Instead, I invited him back on Sunday. And then tonight, I went for dinner with a friend who is getting baptized and wanted some guidance on writing his testimony. As we were leaving the restaurant 2 young good looking servers - one Asian guy and a blonde girl told me that some of my friends from church said hi. I asked if they were in the restuarant. They sort of smiled mischeviously...

Our neigbors backyard. Adam and the deer right in front of our house! The movers showed up Saturday morning an hour late, because someone had slashed the tires of their truck - I knew we were off to a good start. The movers were 2 19 yr. old guys covered in tattoos and smoking. Within 3 hours they had packed up most of our stuff and packed up the truck and were on our way. I and some other friends had also taken 2 SUV's worth of smaller items as well. When I got back to the apartment, where Felicia was cleaning, to my shock there was still a bunch of stuff left - our dining table, a desk, a cd rack, a dvd rack plus a multiple of smaller items. I couldn't believe it. I actually had to rent a cargo van AND get someone w. an SUV to help us again. I am sending the bill for the van to the moving company But, by Saturday night we had all our stuff under one roof. I still had to print up my sermon and go through it before the next day. But, we're here - the burbs. The house we are...