Dreams Unlocked

Today, the Ninans headed into Vancouver. One of our closest friends was in a bad accident and broke his leg and arm. So, we decided to pay him a visit at VGH. I went up to Regent to get him a copy of "Reason For God" by Tim Keller (the best apologetic book since Mere Christianity). The other things we had planned were Granville Island, Kung Bo Chinese Restaurant and an Italian Butcher shop for some specialty meats. And.... they were all closed. No joke. Every single place we wanted to go to was closed. Basically, the kids were strapped in their seats for like 4 hours in pointless shuttling. Poor kiddies. We did get some good bar-b-q at one of our favorite places: Memphis Blues Bar-B-Q House. And, that was about it for our big trip into town. Not much else going on, except the endless demands on a suburban pastor. New U2 - don't like the new single. It is the first single that has not impressed me at all. It sounds like a B-side throw-away. I hope the album will be way bet...

Lost started its new season with some trippy time travelling. I'm wondering if they are going to start to meander further away from reality like Heroes seemed to. Speaking of Lost - for some reason firefox has lost all my bookmarks!!!! I am working on Safari from now on, out of protest. Church continues to be quite hectic. I find my schedule filling up 4-6 weeks in advance now. This coming week, I am gone Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday - prayer retreat with about 30 other pastors. All day Friday I will be at Missionsfest. Missionsfest is awesome. Its just so encouraging to see so many Christians together. Campolo is speaking again this year - I think he speaks like every other year. I think I'm going to finally get my picture taken with him - I am not really into that kind of thing, or getting people to sign books they've written. But it was Campolo's message over 20 years ago that changed the course of my life - so it would be cool to have a permanent record of the ma...

Like the rest of the world, I watched history take place as Obama was sworn in today. The house was empty. I liked Rick Warren's prayer. Obama's speech was simply electrifying. I am also reading his first book "The Audacity of Hope" - the guy is really really eloquent. I'm pretty excited for America. I spent pretty much the whole day at the hospital today, with the family of the woman from our church who is very very ill. I can't believe how draining it is just being there with them. There is obviously very little we can do. I read scripture from time to time and prayed. But mainly, just sat there in silence, or making small talk now and then. There was something quite sacred and peaceful about that hospital room. By the time I got home, I was in no shape to try to focus on my sermon, so I rested a bit and did some light reading. I will head back tomorrow morning again. Anyways, another learning experience for this pastor.

Adam, his new camera and Wall-E Today is normally my Sabbath day of rest. Well, my rest was interrupted when Felicia got home with the distressing news that a woman in our congregation who had been fighting cancer for the past two years was close to passing away. So I rushed down to the hospital, where I spent most of the morning to be with the family. I came home for lunch and did some work, then headed back later in the afternoon. Various other church members drifted in and out throughout the day. When I left, she looked a bit better, eating some soup and ice cream. Tough day - feeling pretty wasted. Sabbath is postponed until further notice.

Bye-Bye On Tuesday Obama takes office. A Gawker blogger posted the following which I enjoyed: Of all the silly (and, at this point, pretty cliche) George W. Bushisms —his malapropisms, his infamous stumbles in syntax—one stands out for me as my absolute favorite. It's a surreal delight: People say, 'How can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil?' You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you. —Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002 It's just so magically strange. The image of walking into a shut-in's house and whispering gravely "I love you," then turning around and leaving. Perfect!! I think comedians will be hard pressed to discover similar oddities in Obama - he is just so eloquent. I am reading his first book right now, and have already had to look up 3 words that I didn't understand. U2 played today at the inaguration concert. Also, new single drops tomorrow!!! I can still remember the f...

The Dock at Rocky Point, Port Moody - December 28 2008 Tonight was quite interesting. I was invited to say grace at a Civic Banquet at City Hall. It was a large event - about 200 city hall staff, city council men and women and a variety of volunteers who sit on a number of civic committees. I am quite amazed that a civic government would include a prayer as part of their program, and to invite a Christian pastor! I was given complete freedom to pray as I wish - no restrictions whatsoever on what I could say or not say. I debated for quite some time about how to end the prayer. In my personal prayers I close with "In Your Name, Amen". Since this was a more public and official prayer, I wondered if I should pray in the name of Jesus, or in the name of Jesus Christ. In the end I went with a Triune ending - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was quite a fancy event - free booze! We were seated at the mayor's table. Felicia sat right next to him. I sat next to an empty chair as t...

It was Geese, Canadian Geese. A plane crash lands on the hudson river because of ..... Geese. Now, you would have thought by now that the aviation industry would have figured out by now a way to fight off..... Geese. The whole plane landing on the river was pretty unbelievable. This new pilot is going to give Obama a run for the money for most beloved living American. Everyone lived - and the plane looks like its all in one piece. The other thing I thought about was that this story has pretty much launched a sermon illustration for every preacher in North America this Sunday, including yours truly. What's my illustration - come to HMCC to find out - this Sunday at 10:00. Speaking of preaching, I am reading a good book on that very topic: Modern Preaching and the Ancient Text. It reads more like a technical text book - positing that the roots of contemporary liberalism is the use of the historical-critical method of generations past. The book looks at literary and redaction criticis...

Three big things from the past week: 1. Toured the Share Community Services Offices - incredible organization serving the poor and needy in Port Moody. Gave me a glimmer of where our church might end up partnering with them. 2. Got a call from city hall. I've been asked to give the prayer at some large civic banquet thing. Pretty cool. Also, invited to meet with the mayor of Port Moody on Thursday to prep. for the prayer, and just to meet each other. 3. Secured the Inlet Theatre for our church to start meeting there. It's an amazing facility and location for us. And then today - we had like double our regular attendance which was a real shot in the arm after so many poorly attended services due to poor weather. For the first week, 2009 is looking like a real kick butt year! Did have one major church conflict that I had to manage, which wasn't that fun. Going to see Benjamin Button - looks a bit odd - hope its good.

I am officially sick of all this freaking snow - seriously. Today the snow was totally wet and weighed like a ton. The snow banks around our driveway are now taller then me. I had taken some time off from July 27 until today. But.... when you work out of your home, and then you don't LEAVE your home, its kinda hard to transition into holiday mode. Whenever I walk into the home office, I am back in work mode. Consequently, I think it would be wise in the future that when I take holidays, I actually physically leave Port Moody. There is a good possibility I will be doing that next month. In part of my negotiating for this position with my church, they asked me apart from my salary, what else I needed. I told them I need to be able to purchase books to help me write my sermons, and keep abreast of current ideas and thoughts. I also needed a small expense account for gas and meals, when I take people out for lunch and coffee. And then in terms of professional development, I asked for a...

And here they are - out of the 50-60 movies I saw this year, these ones were the best: 1. Slumdog Millionaire - If you didn't love this movie, there's something wrong with you. Danny Boyle gives us another heart churning tale of dreams, hope and tragedy. I lived in Mumbai 8 years ago, this movie triggered all kinds of memories of that incredible caohtic city. Already nominated for some golden globes, is starting to generate some serious Oscar buzz. 2. Wall-E - Possibly the best Pixar film ever. I still think Finding Nemo and Toy Story 1 and 2 are amazing films. Wall-E gives a sobering message to a society determined to shop and eat itself to death. Strong biblical themes emerge - a man and woman and the tree of life start a new humanity. 3. Taxi to the Dark Side - A movie you've never heard of. There were a number of films that emerged, critical of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq and Gitmo. This was the strongest. 4. Let the Right One In - Forget ...

We rang in the New Year with just a couple of other friends. One of the couples had brought their kids, hoping they would fall asleep here. At 10:30, their kids were still running around, so we decided to make 11:00 into midnight and toast the new year an hour early. So, at 11:00 PST we toasted the new year with sparkling BC shiraz wine, instead of the traditional French champagne - in my opinion the shiraz is better. It was a nice evening, playing Guitar Hero, eating good food. One of our good friends who was there was also celebrating the fact that 2 years ago on New Years Eve, he dedicated his life to Jesus Christ. So, we spent some time praying and thanking God gor what he had done in his life. It was a great night. 2008 was a pretty tumultous year for us. The biggest change of course was the new job and new home and new city. Well, the new city is a suburb of Vancouver, so not that big a change. Internally, I think I have changed in the fact that I have more confidence in what I ...