check out my new moves!

dudes create your own moves!!! http://www.poplockin.com/flash.php

Seminar #3

I spent the day in Kelowna at the Willow Park Church enjoying a "pastors care net" seminar on "dealing with difficult people". The highlight for me was taking one of our elders along for the experience. I love this guy he is such a solid leader and asset to our fellowship so it was great to spend that much time with him in one shot. The seminar was pretty good too. Basically, the seminar morning was about seeing conflict as important to our growth and maturity in any relationship. To work at getting the church to have a healthy culture of understanding regarding the necessity and benefits of conflict when it is managed in a healthy fashion. The afternoon was spent dealing with how we manage conflict within our selves. The theme of the afternoon was that the only person I can change in any conflict is me. We also learned about adrenaline. It is basically a poison released into the body to increase blood flow to the heart and brain while taking all blood from the digestive system. If you get to much of it in your system it causes high blood pressure, artery plaque build up and heart failure. So watch out how much adrenaline you don't work out of your system. A good walk and/or a good sleep is generally enough to clean it out of the body.
Both morning and evening were well prepared and well presented and kept our interest level high along with the Q & A session that provided some rounding out of the principles mentioned by the instructors.
One story that was relayed today was a bit shocking. It is a true story that happened in the past couple of years. It is about a senior pastor who had called the care net help line in a bit of a dilemma. It seems that he had got into a serious dispute with his two fellow assistant pastors. As the conflict increased and the tensions grew over the coarse of a few days if finally reached its fever pitch! The two assistant pastors got so aggressive that a fight broke out between the three of them. The two assistants pounded the daylights out of the senior pastor. He was calling the crisis line because he didn't know what to do! SCARY STUFF!

Anyway hope you all had a great day and don't forget

God is good all the time!
peace-out

God may be Good but.....

God may be good all the time but Plymouth Caravans are a piece of crap! Not only are they a piece of crap but they are expensive pieces of crap. They have crappy transmissions, crappy brake systems, crappy electronics, crappy driver seats, crappy back door access, and they get crappy gas mileage!

I hate my vehicle! This is our second transmission in 2 years!


any body want to by a Plymouth caravan???????


REAL CHEAP!

Stupid vehicle


BUT GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

There and Back Again by Bilbo Nichol

Wow I had no idea what I was getting into when I left the house last Friday evening. This whole firefighters chaplain thingy is quite the deal. My butt is sore from the seemingly endless hours and hours sitting in a chair that is made for a 20 minute quick-sit. My mind is numb from the over use it sustained and the sharp and heavy learning curve it had to endure. But, I am now in my family room, surrounded by some of the ones I love the most in this world, and all is right for now. I think there was so much to take in that it may take a couple of weeks just to unravel it all and figure out what is usable and what has to go on a shelf somewhere in the back room of my mind for another day and time. I figure the whole thing must have cost our fire department about $1000.00 all in all to send me to this conference. I am not sure how much of what I learned I can actually put into play in my "paid-on-call" fire department here in Peachland. Most the instruction was geared to the majority of chaplains who "serve those who serve" in professional halls in major centers. But there were still some very helpful, insightful and useful information that I know will come in handy as we deal with the large number of incidents that our little hall deals with in a year.
It was good to have a change of pace, to be in Vancouver, to be treated to a couple of Salmon feasts and to meet some pretty terrific people from all over north America. All of them with a passion to serve their fellow mankind with love, compassion and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. AWESOME!

As a friend of mine always says.... GOD IS GOOD>>> ALL THE TIME!

Critical Incident Command System

Yesterday was all about communication. When hell is unleashed in peoples lives to reduce death and damage a well established and well groomed communications system is absolutely necessary. It is a proven reality that without ICS the reality of the book of Judges takes over. That being that "everyone does what is right in his own eyes" and we all know how well that worked out for the children of Israel. Death, devastation, destruction, divorce and discouragement pretty much describes the whole thing. Today, we are back in the class room for another 6 hours straight followed by a nasty test on the details of this system. The text book is about 2 inches think. My brain has never been so challenged! Oh, well, I wouldn't be anywhere else right now as it has been good to be here for a much needed change of scenery.

Good Stress Bad Stress

We started off the morning in much the same venue as yesterday, that is with the issues relating to death. The number one killer of firefighters on a scene is heart attack. The second killer among firefighters was a little shocking to me. The second killer is suicide. After the class I was talking to a chaplain from Virginia and in his hall alone in the past 2 years 3 firefighters have taken their own lives. The stress on these guys is massive.
Needless to say we spent the day talking about these two subjects and the connection between the two top killers is unmanaged bad stress. Bad stress kills. Bad stress is basically any situation that is out of the control of the firefighters but the basic personality of most firefighters is to want to try and control what is basically uncontrollable. The result is bad stress. Feelings of failure, feelings of depression, mental illness and guilt all take an enormous toll on their personal health and also the well-being of their families. The staggering divorce rates among firefighters are as high as 80%.
Basically the whole morning convinced me of the necessity of the role of Chaplain. To watch the firefighters (myself included), to listen to them, to care about them enough to even talk to chief on their behalf if necessary. To provide a safe place to talk out their stuff and to offer encouragement, wisdom and of course directing them towards some professional help could literally save their lives.
The planners of the day were smart enough to remove us from the heaviness of the mornings classroom by sending us all on three buses for a tour of the city. This was followed by a BBQ Salmon feast at Hall #18. We feasted on fresh fish and listened to the Firefighters Band play some terrific music while we ate. It was a terrific way to end the day.

God is Good All the Time!
See you tomorrow.

Death: the destiny of everyone

I spent the entire day in classes dealing with death. I have had some experience with death as I have done too many funerals and memorial services. But most of today was focused on the death of emergency personal and how to handle that. The protocols alone were completely overwhelming. As one instructor put it; " Nobody does funerals like the fire service".
We learned about "Delivering the Death Message" for the better part of today. I remember a time not long ago, where I had to comfort an EMT after they found a women who had hung herself. I also remember having to go to the two different schools to gather up 3 kids and tell them the bad news that their mother was dead. Thankfully my wife, teachers, principles, and school counselors were so professional and helpful the personal trauma of that event was minimized for myself. I also remember back to a call we took were the man had taken a large caliber rifle and did himself in. I was able to assist a few of the guys who were traumatized from that whole experience. There are also other stories of death that affected many of the fellows in our hall, it goes with the line of work we do. Therefore it is an invaluable thing chaplains do when they are there for and serve those who serve others in their time of need.
I found that throughout the day there were times when I found my own eyes welling up with tears as the instructors broke down expressing their own stories of tragedies. They shared with us their dealings with the reality of death that surrounds the firefighters, their families, friends and of course the thousands of victims that are left behind after death strikes their lives.
The room fell "dead" silent as one presenter walked us through the fallen fire fighters from B.C. over the past year. Very moving.
Death. No one really talks about it much outside of funerals. It did feel a bit strange to be talking about it all day long. Kind of made me feel a bit mortal, like I'm not as invincible as I think or feel I am. Very sobering day. As Solomon said, "Death is the destiny of every man and the living should take it to heart and learn from it." Today I learned about it.

One thing I learned today...

Hi everybody. I'm at the holiday Inn in down town Vancouver and I'm attending a chaplains conference here and I thought I would just journal key thoughts that I learn from the sessions in the day classes.
So today it was refreshing to hear the difference between a pastor/preacher/intercessor vs. The ministry of a Chaplain. It is meant to be a role that is mostly about presence. Just being there for those who are experiencing trouble through some sort of trauma. The firefighters, their spouses and their kids are the priority of our chaplaincy duties. Sort of like Pre-evangelism type ministries. Just being there for them can speak volumes about your faith. And when the time is right they will invite you into their lives and at that time and only at that time you can move towards a pastor, preacher, intercessor type role for them.

This fits so well with my overall philosophy of life. I found myself feeling encouraged that there are others with the same kind of thinking as I have.

God is good.
talk to you tomorrow.

Eating and Talking Around the Table

They say that necessity is the mother of all inventions. When faced with the idea of spending this Thanksgiving without family or friends, something had to be done. My wife and I were spending some quality time in the van between kid drop offs when my wife came up with a brilliant idea. Faced with this thought of a lonely thanksgiving, we would make a feast fit for a huge family gathering. Then we would purchase some tinfoil plates and take packaged meals down to the "Peachland ghetto" as I have heard it called. Then we would tootle off to the Edge Water Hotel and do the same thing. As we talked, the vision changed and grew. Why not host a massive feast at the community centre after church and invite anyone who we thought could be alone this Thanksgiving to come and join us? The day and time were set and we began to pass out invitations and invite people to come so that they wouldn't have to be alone either. My wife's office is right downtown, the window she looks out of faces the street. She passed out invitations to all those who seemed down on their luck and probably would be spending Thanksgiving alone and would enjoy a good turkey dinner. As a part of my sermon a couple of Sundays ago, I mentioned this idea to our congregation and the plan took off among our church family with wild enthusiasm! People gave money, turkeys, time, salads; helping hands were so numerous we didn't know what to do with everyone. This idea had taken on a life of it's own and we were excited.
Yesterday, Thanksgiving Sunday, was a day I will not soon forget. We didn't take a head count but we figured that close to 100 people participated in our free thanksgiving feast. One woman's words summed up so well the success of the event. She said, " I really love this. I don't have to sit down to a meal all by myself. It is so nice to be able to eat and chat with someone. There is nothing like eating and talking at the same time." Apparently eating and talking around the table at the same time was a rare event in her life. She was so grateful along with many others who enjoyed eating and talking so much that they asked if we could do this again soon.
We came home last night, exhausted but feeling so great. What a tremendous experience and seeds were planted in our hearts that just maybe we will do this again. Why? Because there is nothing like eating and talking around the table.
In fact, eating around a table, filled with guests is one of life's richest moments. As I look back in Jesus' day, he was famous for "reclining at the table" with anyone from the worst reprobate to the most powerful religious leader. Jesus reclined, dined and had some deep and meaningful conversations around a table. In fact it became a picture of the kind of relationship that Jesus desires with all of us. A kind of "reclining at the table of our hearts" picture. He wants to "do life" with us so that we never have to "dine" alone. All we have to do is invite him in and he will come.

Hectic

Hectic is a good word. It describes something that is almost out of control but still has elements of control in it. It describes my week to a tee. It seemed as though this week has been a ton of people time and not much study time. The times I usually set aside for study were consumed by others who I suppose I could have seen as interruptions but by the grace of God I didn't. Helping a homeless man with three kids what just the beginning. That took up most of my Tuesday. Most of Wednesday was spent with a group of caring folks who want to assist and enable our food bank here in peachland to broaden its mandate to include the transients and the families like the man with three kids in desperate need. Most of Thursday was spent with leadership people. I am so happy that one of our parishioners wants to use his teaching gifts more within our fellowship. I have been trying to entice him for years and finally this year he has decided to bless our church with his teaching skills. He also wants to do more counseling so I will be passing off some of what I do to him. That night I went to a rockets hockey game with danae and paige with tickets that were given too us. The rockets won 3-0 over the St. Albert Raiders. We had a great time. I was also approached by one of my fellow fire fighters to counsel him through the grief he is experiencing over the loss of his father in law. I love those times. Times I can minister to a person who is yet to experience the life of Christ. Five minutes before we were to meet he called and asked for a rain check. So I guess we will see if that opportunity comes round again. This morning was my regular men's life group. We have such a great time together. Praying for each other, encouraging one another, challenging one another, a real band of brothers. I always come away very full after our meetings. Needless to say that after all this stimulation I had a tough time settling down and getting into the books today and I haven't finished my sermon yet. Oh well, hectic basically describes it all.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I've been wondering these past few weeks about how I (and people in general) struggle with just telling others what I think they need to hear rather than listening to them and asking some penetrating questions to help understand them. As it happens a few days ago I was walking along the road doing my morning routine exercise when I had a total God moment. I was reading in the book of Luke as I walked along at the story of Jesus when he was left behind in Jerusalem by his parents. They later came back and after searching high and low they finally found him in the temple “about his father business" is what he told them. But what really nailed me between the eyes was the next part of the story. It struck me deeply that this 12 year old boy had a better handle on how to engage people than this 43 year old pastor ever has. It says that they found him sitting among the teachers; 1) listening to them... how good of a listener am I? 2) asking them questions... rather than telling them what was right or wrong or good or bad he was asking them questions.– How many times do I tell people what to do rather than ask them deep and profound questions? 3) they were amazed at his understanding... most people around me are amazed at how I don’t get it, I don’t understand! I must admit understanding others is a slower and much more difficult way of engaging them. When what I would rather do is just throw a bible verse or two at them and tell them to obey it. And finally, 4) then and only then does it mention his answers. Before he ever got to the answers he worked at listening, he worked at asking profound and penetrating questions (at least for a 12 year old level), he worked at understanding those around him BEFORE he gave his answers. I wondered if this whole way of dealing with others is the thing that astonished the teachers around him. Just a kid yet such a handle on respecting them, by listening, asking good questions, understanding them, and answering their adult type questions! Then come the fascinating part... he grew in wisdom and stature in favor with God and men. He still had wisdom to grow into... WOW, he already was amazing but he still had some learnin to do! The boy Jesus has so much to teach all of us when it comes to engaging others in dialogue. We need to stop trying to fix others or force answers on them when we haven't first done the hard work of listening, asking and understanding. Make me like you Lord!

When I told my family this morning about all this Mackenzie my 13 year old piped up and said, "Don't worry about it dad, Jesus was God what did you expect!" We all had a good laugh.