Dreams Unlocked

Day off today - I read "In the Name of Jesus" by Henri Nouwen. I read this small book on leadership 5 years ago. Nouwen is an always refreshing voice amidst the hectic congestion of contemporary ministry life. He goes so much deeper than the average Christian book on the bestseller lists. In this book he charts out what is necessary for Christian leadership. He says that the temptations pastors face are the temptation to be relevant, spectacular and powerful. The most powerful thing that I got out of this time's reading is the simple fact that nothing matters if I do not love Jesus. "It is not enough for priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an arden...

Sunday night - 11:30 PM. Listening to Radiohead and chilling in my office. Watched too much tv tonight - Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice.  Felicia is at work, so its just me and the 2 little Ninans - both sleeping peacefully. Sophia got up and played for a bit, but then went back to bed, when I told her it was time to sleep. Earlier, Adam sat on bar-stools at the kitchen island, eating mint-chip ice-cream. He turned to me and asked how my day was with Soph.  Later on we were talking about what it meant for Jesus to live in his heart. Adam then informed me that something else lives in his heart - a robot with octopus arms made of steel. I began to wonder what theology people in our church are learning, if my own son believes that! Church was good today. Our little church has four worship bands, which I find quite amazing. We don't need to hire a worship pastor, because there would simply nothing for him to do. A number of new people again today. I am discovering that our growt...

As a pastor, I listen to a lot of other sermons, I read a lot of books and articles and I listen to a lot of people at various points of crisis in their lives. Every once in awhile I come across something which touches a deep part of me. Today I read something like that. I was skyping my brother who lives trans-continentally in New York City and St. Andrews Scotland. Today He was in New York. On Wednesday he'll be in Scotland. He directed me to this article: http://www.notesfromtoadhall.com/articledetail.asp?AID=506&B=Wesley%20Hill&TID=7 It is written by Wesley Hill - a homosexual Christian man who has chosen to be abstinent, rather than fulfill his sexuality by being in a relationship with another man. Hill shows the incredible context of loneliness and secrecy that many homosexuals in our churches have to live within. This hiddenness is no doubt borne out of a number of factors - including the church's own reputation of intolerance, fear and sometimes even hatred. I a...

I am at about 70% capacity. My head is pretty congested, so everything sounds sort of muffled. At one point, I actually heard my heart beating in my head, which was pretty weird. Its midnight, and I can't sleep, so I'm killing time on here. Genius picked out these songs based on Silver and Gold by U2 1. Murder Inc. - Springsteen 2. Talk About the Passion - R.E.M. 3. Sweetheart Like You - Dylan 4. In the Evening - Zeppelin 5. Clampdown - Clash 6. Monkey Man - Rolling Stones 7. Love Removal Machine - The Cult 8. 300 MPH Torrential Down Pour BLues - White Stripes 9. Helter Skelter - U2 10. Dirty Blvd. - Lou Reed The R.E.M. song is very old - off of the Murmur album. Everything else I can see fitting - maybe nor White Stripes or Lou Reed. White Stripes seem too new for a B-side U2 song that is over 20 years old.  Church was good this morning. I was happy with my sermon. Quite a few people away due to Spring Break. Spring Break - Adam will be home from pre-school, making my mornings...

How to Play Table Tennis Well, 4 CDs, voice in Mandarin - $33 (Surrey - Langley)

Hallelujah Finally feeling a little better. Not 100%, but enough that I can actually work once again. Upcoming concerts: April - Leonard Cohen June - Coldplay October - U2 First, Leonard Cohen. I like Cohen a lot. I hadn't considered going to see him live until Bono said that the best concert he had ever been to was Leonard Cohen earlier this year in Dublin. Best concert ever? Sheesh. Only problem is I know absolutely no one who would want to go see him. So, if you live in the Vancouver and want to go, drop me a line and we'll go. Coldplay - seen them once before and they were fantastic. I really like the new album. Felicia will go to this one with me. The biggie - U2 - can't wait. This will be my 8th U2 concert. I am toying with the idea of flying out east to see them as well. But, I think if they go to San Diego, I'll go there instead, as I have family there. Other than that, things seem to be going well. We are about to undertake a major overhaul of our web-site whic...

Adam enjoying ice cream. Day 3 of the lockdown continues as parasitic invaders continue to wreak havoc on my life. I actually felt pretty good this morning and sat down and wrote 2 pages of my sermon. Side-note - I have calculated that I need about 8-11 printed sheets of paper to make up a 30 minute sermon - slightly more or less, depending on how much scripture I also read w. that. And then at 12:00 I felt as sick as I did the last 2 days which is really really sick. I decided to go to a medical clinic and see if there is a magic elixir that I'm missing. Now, I have never complained about the Canadian health system before - my father is a physician and my wife is a nurse so I'm pretty tied into things. But, today, I started to see the potential benefit of pay for service, because when you don't pay (at least directly), then you don't get much service. The first clinic I went to, had a sign that said the doctor had met his regulated quota for the day and couldn't se...

Was sick most of today again. My life has degenerated into sips of cold water, poking at food, sleeping and trying to concentrate on a video on my laptop (BBC's Office and Lord of the Rings so far). I went into the home office to try to work on my sermon. I was planning to preach on the Holy Spirit's role in prayer and ministry. But then I tried reading the following: Acts depicts Pentecost as the basis of the church's existence, yet it is not so merely as an act of collective enthusiasm but as the starting point of proclamation of the resurrection of the Crucified and of his installation to a position of eschatological power as the Son of God and Kyrios. Corresponding to the eschatological character of this event on the side of believers is the assurance that in them the outpouring of the Spirit that is promised for eschatological consummation has occurred already. This fine paragraph by theologian extraordinaire Wolfhart Pannenberg, teamed up with my already fragile state...

I have a bad case of the flu - really bad. I can't remember being this sick in years. Every winter I usually get a mild cold - but this thing this year has really way-laid me.  I spent most of the day in bed, the rest of the time whining to whoever is within ear-shot. I am so sick, that for the first time ever I am trying to come up with a contingency plan for Sunday. I have never missed a preaching/speaking opportunity due to illness before. Some ideas are to have people share testimonies of answered prayer, or have my message video-taped on Friday, and then played on Sunday. The Worlds Colliding reference is about the fact that U2 is playing on Letterman all this week. I have a deep love for both Dave, and U2, so it has been fascinating seeing them there every night. Tonight, they even did the top 10 list which was pretty funny. I think the new album is fantastic - I think I am going to take Adam to the concert this year, which will be very very cool.

Future missionary to Uganda rocking it with Guitar Hero. Actual conversation between Adam and I yesterday: Do you want to be a tv star when you grow up? No Do you want to be a movie star? No. Do you want to be a missionary to Uganda? Yes.