Out of the Blue!

Today I received a call for a group of concerned Peachland citizens that took me quite by surprise. It was a neighbor of ours from the last neighborhood we lived in 8 years ago. She started out by saying that she hoped I wouldn't think she was sticking her nose in my business and that if she asked me what she wanted to ask that I wouldn't think less of her. She went on and on about the group she was a part of and how since she was the one who knew me best from their group she was picked to phone me up and ask me the question. It just seemed that every time they tried to come up with various names of people it kept coming around to my name. In fact, she said, the group was unanimous! Well, by this time I was really starting to wonder where in the world she was going with this conversation and where in the universe it would end up! That's when I told her to go ahead and just ask instead of all this preamble. So she dropped the penny! She said that her group believed that in the November elections for our town that I should run for the mayor of Peachland! Well you could have knocked me over with a feather! I burst out laughing but managed to keep some dignity by saying that I was honored and surprised that they had even thought of me in this regard. We chatted briefly and I explained that I had enough on my plate to keep me quite busy, in fact too busy but in the end she insisted that I at least think about it! Cheryl heard me laughing and when I told her what the call was about she laughed along with me. She has always said that I am the unofficial mayor of Peachland but this one even took her by surprise!
The good side is that I believe the Gospel of the Lord Jesus has gained a very positive hearing in this dark little town. The dark side is that we are to beware when all men speak well of us. I had some fun with this in my head for a couple of hours but then I was back to business and focused on what the Lord had called me to do here in Peachyland.
Signed
HIS WORSHIP MAYOR OF PEACHLAND
REV. K.C. NICHOL

Following Hard After Christ

Best quote of the day went to John Maxwell today. It didn't originate with him he borrowed it from Dietrich Bonhoffer. "As a follower of Christ we are not often sure of where we are going but we can be sure we're following Christ." This really hit home for me today. Sometimes I wonder what it is that Christ is doing or where he may be (or may not be) leading us in this ministry here in Peachland. But there is one solid thing I can know for sure and that is I am following Christ. I am following him by loving, leading, feeding and caring for this church and many in this town. I felt some serious inner depressurizing as I later sat and let this quote sink in. I think at times I wonder why I am still in this town leading this awesome little church. I wonder why the Lord has asked me to carry on here when it would seem to me that I should step aside and let another leader come in with gifts and skills that are more suited to this area. But that is part of the mystery for all of us, we are often not sure of where the Lord is leading us. It keeps us searching and seeking, it keeps us in prayer and tuned into what the Holy Spirit is saying. It makes us hunger for a fresh move of God, a break through of any sort. It forces us to deal with relationship issues that often seem complicated and at times very difficult. It forces us to face our mistakes and admit them and move on. Sometimes, like many other leaders I know, we foolishly think that the grass is greener over there somewhere but in reality it is the same dog just a different collar.
It was a refreshing and relaxing and a bit of re-tooling today. I am grateful to my church for paying for my way to this conference. Sadly only two of us are able to attend but hopefully this number will grow in the coming years.

A Voice Calling Out in the Wilderness

This morning I headed into Kelowna with my church administrator (Stacey) for a satellite simulcast conference from Willow Creek church and I was looking forward to all the good teaching I was about to encounter. Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, John Maxwell just to mention a few. As I crested the hill near my old stomping grounds at Westside Alliance church the traffic was at a complete standstill. I made some calls and listened to the radio to find out what had happened and discovered that a Pepsi truck had caught fire at 4 in the morning and they were still trying clean it up. What that means for all you non-kelownaites is that a stretch of hwy that would normally take us 10 minutes to drive had now turned into a 3 hour stretch of hwy! We sat in my pickup truck and breathed super heated vehicle exhaust air mixed with the already hot morning air and the sun beating down into the cab through the front windshield. I had sweat dripping down my back and heading straight into the "nether regions of my backside" if you get my drift. As we slowly rolled along I "cracked" and so did Stacey! We turned on the radio tunes as loud as we could and began to dance and sing inside the cab. We were having a great ole time. We ended up beside a couple of motor homes and we joked about asking to use their washroom if things took much longer. Then I said it would be great if they had some ice water in their fridge and almost before I could finish the sentence Stacey hung her head out the window and asked the lovely senior couple if they had any cold water in their fridge. The older lady laughed, hopped out of her seat, disappeared into the back of the motor home and reappeared with two ice cold water bottles! We sipped on that refreshing beverage as we inched closer and closer to our destination. We arrived just in time to hear the second speaker Rick Warren give a passionate message about Moses's shepherds staff turned "Rod of God". It was a great message, one that I will never forget. I love to hear the preaching of the word of God. Even though it is probably the worst form of communication out there (the foolishness of preaching) and sometimes it is painful to listen to, I still love to hear that lonely voice proclaiming eternal truths. The long tense ride into town paled and was quickly forgotten as I settled in and listened to the man of God calling out, seeking to affect our hearts and minds for the kingdom of God. I head back tomorrow for day two and hopefully it goes much better.

43rd

Mom yesterday I golfed one of the nicest courses in the Okanogan. A place called the harvest if you go to http://www.harvestgolf.com/ you can check it out. Bruce, paid for me as a birthday gift and we were joined by Phil Callaway and his son Steve. Phil is an author of several great and humorous books and the editor of servant magazine out of Prairie Bible Institute. He is such a fun guy, we laughed a ton and baked our buns off. I shot a 95 in the 36 degree weather!!! I thought of you a quite a few times. There were a couple of times when I was thinking of packing it in it was so hot, I know you would have loved it. Today was great. Cheryl's old boss had given here a gift certificate to a fantastic and expensive restaurant in Peachland so she saved it for today. We were joined by Bruce and Niki for a great conversation filled lunch. Then tonight we took in a double feature and relaxed and munched on popcorn and chocolate covered almonds. 43 years and I am feeling fantastic. I've been meditating on Isaiah 66 the past few days and was reminded of what kind of man I want and need to be. Isa 66:2 "This is the one I esteem:he who is humble and contrite in spirit,and trembles at my word." So I took it as my birthday theme. If you think to you can join me in this prayer. Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone they were greatly appreciated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

what a cutie! :-0


This is Kevin's hacker...breaking into his blog to wish him a very Happy 43rd Birthday! hee hee

Nasty Assumptions

The service today was absolutely gorgeous! By the time the service started at 10:30ish it was getting close to 30 already. We are blessed by the fact that there are a couple of families in our church with access to their own sound system. They are more than happy to let us borrow it for our church service. We are slowly learning the sad truth that we don't seem to have any insurance to replace our stolen property. We still are searching for why that is and hopefully we will uncover some clues to find out for sure if that's true, but it is more and more becoming the reality. Life can be a bit like that. We think we know something, we believe it is true, we take great risks under the assumption that there is a net beneath us to catch us if we fall. However, when the opposite of all this trust is revealed and what we assumed was true turned out to be false the cost can be enormous even eternal. We often march through life bravely and foolishly taking certain things for granted until of course they are taken from us. Like the old saying goes "you don't know what you've got till its gone! Makes me wonder what else I have assumed was true (or not true) that has remained undetected as of yet. Then again, that is one of the key purposes of our faith. We need someone outside of ourselves to show us the way of life. We must trust God that he will be a kind and gracious father, leading us and guiding us. When we decide to no longer lean on our own understanding he literally makes what would have turned out to be a crooked path into a straight path. Left to our pitiful selves we would fumble around in the darkness but thanks be to God, he gives us the light to show us the way of truth. He is the only one we can trust with absolute assurance we will not be left holding the bag or have the rug pulled out from underneath us when the chips are down and the rubber of truth meets the hard and often harsh road of life. He will be there to catch us when we fall.

HOT HOT HOT

Yesterday I did a wedding rehearsal at 6:30 PM and it was still 31 outside. While we were standing there rehearsing suddenly the guys started jumping up and down. Upon investigation we all had red ants crawling up our legs, I even had them crawling up my shorts. It was quite hilarious. But today I did the wedding in 34 degree weather in a suit and tie! To be sure I didn't get a serious burn I smothered myself in goopy sunscreen before heading out to do the wedding. About mid way through the ceremony the sweat that had been gathering in my bushy eyebrows suddenly broke the dam and began to flow into my eyes. I was instantly struck with blindness and a serious amount of sting from the lotion. I had to stop the wedding, take a Kleenex from the maid of honor and wipe my eyes several time before the stinging finally left and my vision returned. Needless to say it was a good laugh and a fun break in the action. Fortunately, the mother of the groom had come out early with a bottle of raid to keep those bothersome little red bodied biting ants at bay! (say that five times fast) It is nice to sit here and blog in my air conditioned house!!! Tootles

Reports of wonder

Today, I started out with a good walk as my cardio workout. During that 50+ minute march I began to feel consumed with all the garbage that is running wild in our church. Sins too many to count, a lack of participation, a lack of care and concern, a lack of initiative, the coming church discipline and the probable fall out that comes with such an ordeal and the poor attendance we have had the last few Sundays while in the park. That was just for starters! I was not thinking right nor was I particularity interested in thinking right, I was enjoying my pity party complete with my imagined written and re-written resignation. I was almost finished planning my own farewell party and all of you were invited!
However, over the course of the morning I had three guests come to see me in my office downtown. You might say they were three little angels sent by the Lord. Each one had at least two or three stories of victory and one specifically told of so many encouraging things that were happening to him I lost track of them all. One thing he mentioned was this little saying that had been blessing him over the past couple of weeks. It goes something like this..."It's not how many breaths you take in a day but what takes your breath away throughout the day that really matters." I could literally feel myself coming out of my cloudy disposition and as I sat and listened to the "reports of wonder"(things that just take your breath away) in peoples lives I began to feel God's sweet presence creep back into the center of my heart and mind. Needless to say, the rest of my day was much more productive and more vibrant. I was in a terrific frame of mind come the end of the day. I zipped home, grabbed MacKenzie, and headed to the beach and for the next hour and a half we swam and laughed and played water games and had a terrific time together.
I re-learned an old lesson today. We sure do need each other in the faith. Sometimes to prop each other up or to hold back the prevailing dark clouds, other times to bring light and truth and a sense of wonder back into our mindsets. I guess that must be why we are commanded so often to encourage each other. It really does make a huge difference.

There and back again

The trip was smooth, the traffic was minimal, the fun was exceptional. It was great to see Cam and Janelle, Ethan and Avery this weekend. Such cuties! (And the kids were pretty cute too!) We took in the Zoo, saw elephants and monkeys, hippos and Zebras. We ate at Peter's Drive In, munched on KrispyKreme donuts, shared a couple of tickle sessions, a show me all your owie time and one total free for all wrestling match between Ethan and myself. Ethan won hands down. On Monday night we left Kenz and her friend Jessie at Tim and Kelly's and we joined Neill and Marilynne in Cochrane for some scrumptious Mexican food. We had a mysterious phone call from Kenz just as we finished eating. She was claiming that the two of them had heard noises and doors slamming somewhere in the house. They were pretty freaked! But upon investigation they discovered that the Foster clan had returned home from their camping trip. All was good and we were able to zip over to Uncle and Auntie's house for some dreamy dessert! All in all our quick trip to Calgary and back was well worth the effort and the 16 hour drive there and back again.
Peace out

STOLEN

Well I would have to admit that I am surprised it hasn't happened in the 12 years of doing church in the park but it finally did. The trailer we store our $15,000 + worth of equipment was taken from the front of the house were we keep it. The police called our office Wednesday at noon asking if we had a utility trailer. When we told them we did they told us it was parked in Penticton. The police informed us that they would tow it to the police compound in Penticton and we could pick it up from there. Yesterday a team of three went off to retrieve the trailer and when they arrived they investigated and discovered that most of the sound equipment except the sound board was gone. But, we have our trailer back and not everything was taken our tents were still there and a few chairs. Fortunately we have insurance and should be able to replace it all within the next couple of weeks.
Thou shalt not steal was written for good reason. The sense of loss, the frustration and grief it causes, the injustice is nauseating. God's commands are given for good reason and not as so many assume to keep us from enjoying life. And in keeping these commands there is great reward. Let him who stole steal no more is the true testimony of those who have taken Gods forgiveness and his new life as their own. They now seek to respect their fellow man and also their possessions. One of the interesting things to me is that theft is now so common place most the people we have told have their own stories of being robbed as well.

Weep and Wail and Mourn

It was about 38 degrees today. I was melting but the cool evening is so welcome. My lament yesterday did me much good. Sometimes you just have to say or write it or both just to get it out of the system. Fortunately God has blessed me with a personality that is usually pretty positive and enthusiastic. But I still like and need to let it all out sometimes. Laments are one of those "overlooked" biblical concepts that is generally misunderstood and therefore way undervalued in our western culture. Nothing like the purifying power of a good lament! But our culture likes to make us all think we're supposed to be happy all the time. And that line of thinking seems to be epidemic in the Christian world. Everything has to be fixed and/or "victorious" or our faith comes under suspicion. What I find most interesting is that Kind David would write a lament, put it to harp music and then everyone at synagogue would sing it that Sabbath! How weird would that be. Imagine the song leader getting up there and saying something like, "Ok everyone David had a really bad week this week and somehow he found the time to put it into a poem and then to music and we're all going to sing and weep our way through it this morning." It was depressing, miserable, "durgy" type music and everyone felt the sadness of the song as they sang it. Then to top it all off, the Holy Spirit decides to make sure it is preserved in the bible for all eternity! Most of the Psalms are laments and of course Jeremiah left a whole book with the title Lamentations! Funny, I have grown up in the church and the only things I know about that book are the two or three positive statements in the whole book and virtually nothing else! Anyway, if your feeling down say so about sums up what a lament is all about! BOO-WHO!

Propping Up

How long does one need to be propped up by fellow believers? I know a person who arrived on our churches doorstep about 6 years ago broken, depressed and really hurting. His wife had left him with their kids suddenly. He arrived home to find them all gone. He started coming out faithfully to church , joined a life group and rededicate his life to God and even got baptized with a believers baptism. He began the slow but steady road to recovery and really did very well up until about a few years ago. That is when he met his girlfriend. They instantly made a great couple. His life group began the process of introducing "purity" into his life as a healthy and godly way of respecting this young lady. We tried our best to hold him accountable and for the most part he had been very respectful and accommodating. But things began to change. Silence began to show up in his life when before he was always talking about his relationship. Then we began to notice her staying over night and we began to dig into the idea of purity more and more candidly. He constantly was on a roller coaster over this and eventually, even with our valiant efforts to encourage him to keep their relationship pure, she got pregnant. Now the issue is to marry or not but my friend can not make up his mind. He was eager to submit to the group and be accountable to make changes with their sexual relationship. Then our group decided to take a break over the summer and we left on holidays. Yesterday, I found out he is ready to buy a house with her and move in. I was so angry with him I just stormed away. What is that about? I understand the power of fellowship and how essential it is to our Christian lives but come on... When does it become like some sort of "co-dependent" thing. As soon as the group is absent, even after 5+ years of propping him up he has no backbone to make good solid Christ-like decisions! I'm pretty frustrated with him and I am planning to sit down and chat with him about the unwelcome but necessary prospects of church discipline. But the thing that bothers me most is all the work, years of building into a life, and the repayment is summed up with him repeating the exact same mistakes over and over again. Very frustrating!
So I guess, after writing thus far, it is not far from my mind that God has had to deal with me and all of us the same way even after years and years of working on our hearts and propping us up we still are prone to fall. We are prone to unforgiveness and holding grudges, we are prone to walking away from relationships rather than working them out in a Christ like manner. We are prone to blame and accuse and criticize and blast away at another person who is made in God's image just like us! We are prone to sin and therefore we are all in a position of needing much grace. I guess at the end of the day we can trust that God will deal with his children and sometimes that means church discipline. Oh the joys of church leadership! Any way, thanks for reading my lament, I would be suprised if you're still reading this with me. Cheers!

Preaching

This is me this morning preaching in the sanctuary that God has provided for us throughout the summer. NOT BAD EH!!!!

Breakfast ... Club

Ok for all you whiners out there it did rain here in the not so sunny Okanogan so the temperature was only 26 C and it poured most of the day... Most of the day except for the morning that is. This morning I woke up late from the affects of attending a motor vehicle accident last night until 2:00 in the morning. But when I did finally wake up my wife pleasantly asked me if I wanted to join her down town to sit at a table on the sidewalk in front of her Edward Jones office and share breakfast together. When we arrived we found that the neighbor, a fish and chip shop, had left their stove on slightly and the entire building smelled of the sickly odor of natural gas. But once we got past that little surprise we were able to sip on fresh brewed Tim Hortons coffee, enjoyed a ham, cheese and mushroom omelet and some delightful conversation that had little direction and was quite light hearted. One of the best ways to start any day I would say.
Meanwhile, my friend down the street named Tim opened up his hardware store. We could see him putting out his wears and getting ready for a full day of business from where were sitting. He also shares the building he is in with a nice Hungarian lady who runs a clothing/beach wear shop. Shortly after Cheryl and I had finished our sweet time together a couple of young men began to bother this lady. She came out of her store shocked and upset and acting as though she had been assaulted. So Tim, who is usually a bit of an over actor, grabbed a grub hoe handle to use as a club and marched out after these boys (both in their twenties). He also thought they had stolen a couple of shirts off his outdoor rack so he was pretty heated. The thing escalated to the point where the police were called in and after statements were taken the tempers finally cooled down. Later he told me that the lady next door was defiantly over-reacting, he definitely over-reacted ( the boys didn't take his T-shirts) and said that a gentle tone would have been a much more powerful way to solve the problem. Really not the way you would want to start off the day - anytime really! Seems like there is never a dull moment around here these days.
As the day progressed Cheryl got some really great news and I better stop there or she will be mad at me for stealing her thunder.
And now the weekend is upon us... Counseling tonight, wedding tomorrow evening and more visiting with Quentin and Tracee before they leave Sunday and then church, preaching and family on Sunday. Looking forward to it all.

Old Friends, Chatting and Stuff!

Today I spent the most of my day with old friends. Nothing like it really. They are the kind of people we just connect with. We see eye to eye on most issues and we love to chat up every issue that comes to mind. Quentin and Tracee Steen are long time friends and "Q" used to be on staff with me here in peachyland for two years. We golfed in 36 C weather and I melted and even he melted it was soooooooooooooo hot. Then we joined the wives and kids for a bbq and more chatting. We have such a good time, laughing, sharing stories and telling lies! Well you know what I mean. I am pretty beat up from the heat so I'm going to keep this one short. Yip, nottin like good ol fashion friends. Good night all!


Cheryl is on the computer beside me and found a good website for quotes, these ones made me laugh."Have you ever noticed that if you rearranged the letters in mother in law, they come out to Woman Hitler?" OR "Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken over there ... I'm gonna eat the first thing that comes out if its butt"? OR Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"? OR "Why is it that when we are humming and then we plug our nose, our humming stops? Do people really hum through their nose, or their mouths?" OR "Don'’t you find it weird we teach our kids: scrub a dub dub, three men in a tub?" OR "If your named Will and you are in the army do you get worried when people say fire at will?"


Good ones babe!

Ok be honest, how many of you tried the humming one!

Blood Splattered God Garments

Today I read about the day of God's vengeance and the year of his redemption. It has to be one of the most graphic and disturbing passages of scripture in the entire bible. It portrays God as such a violent God. It states in Isaiah 63:3-4 "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. After this graphic and disturbing description of the wrath of God the prophet seems to run to the aspect of God that is much more likeable. He goes on to say...Isa 63:7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done... The lesson seemed clear to me. The passionate wrath of God is scary and at the same time motivating. Motivating because of the "year of his redemption". The point I got this morning was that this terrible and awesome aspect of God's character should drive us to the side of him that longs to show kindness and mercy now. The two times are compared. His wrath is pictured as a day but his redemption is described as a year. His mercy is huge and his anger is slow in coming but in the end his wrath is swift. I've seen this in my own family, especially when the kids were younger. My anger was swift and decisive but my mercy and kindness was slow and steady and thankfully long. The display of my anger I am sure was terrible in the eyes of my kids but the calm following the storm was sweet, deep and abiding. I think I saw this in my heavenly father this morning. Later in the passage the prophet wondered why God would make us in such a way the we wander from his ways and our hearts can become hardened so we don't revere him. But this again is a tribute to his amazing love. His warnings are thick and long and often and his patience seems to be endless but in the end we must chose to love him back or face the terrible consequence of our own choice. This was the beginning of my day and this passage has been rumbling around in my mind the whole day. It feels good to get it out of there and write it here in my blog. What about you guys any thoughts about this subject?

What up with that???

We have friends living in china. They are teaching English there and seem to be really enjoying themselves. Dale has a great sense of humor and one of the things he blogged was a translation off of a hair spray bottle. It is so funny I thought I would post it for you.

Translation #1: Hairspray Bottle - word for word....it's confusing

The vogue's what hair style need is which suite vogue already set. Profession special hair spray have type of the strong dint the result. Design of in keeping with all shapeness. Show hair that make you since now moving magic power, again hold out for long time the constant type, and the special afiliation is wet validity lock lives water the care for show hair for does not outflowing, for you providing the profession but completely.

How's that for a translation! What are they talking about!!! More to come....

You talk about LOST IN TRANSLATION!
Tonight I did some premarital counseling with a young couple. We got sidetracked (kinda) on this whole topic of not understanding what the other person is saying. It is about being lost in translation. So often feelings are hurt or things are said one way but completely taken the opposite way. What's up with that?
I guess it is God's way of helping us learn to understand our differences, learn about ourselves and learn about how God deals with us as well. We don't often understand his ways as they are higher and wiser than ours. And just as we have to work hard at communicating with and understanding one another so we have to work hard at hearing and understanding what it is God is trying to commuicate with us. I guess it is just further proof of the fall of mankind from the perfect paradise of the Garden of Eden.

Did you understand anything I just wrote????

My Secret Chocolate Cake Story

This is for Shuana who has not heard my secret chocolate cake story. More than likely she was preoccupied with getting married to some guy named Rick something or other. As the story goes... My roommate and I lived in a little cultisack while staying in Quezon City Manila Philippines. We eventually made friends with the neighbors who were the owners of the only Bus lines (worth mentioning anyway) on the main Island. They were very wealthy and they loved to party and basically about once a month they would make any excuse to have a real big bash. On this particular weekend they had decided to celebrate the 9th month birthday of their sons youngest child. By then we had become pretty good friends, playing basketball until the wee hours of the morning and we got an invitation to the fiesta and what a feast it was! Complete with dog meat, humogous prawns, giant crabs, frogs legs, shark fins, sticky rice, regular rice, noodles and of course coagulated pigs blood with special spices mixed in for dipping what ever you wanted to dip. We finished off the evening with biut(baby duck pickled and still inside the shell) and chocolate cake with ice cream. Well needless to say the chocolate cake was the most moist and delicious cake I had had for quite some time and so I had a couple of massive pieces. The Filipinos loved it, they were laughing at my enormous appetite and seemed far to eager for me to eat more chocolate cake. At the time I just assumed it was a quirky thing between big white guys and little brown guys and that was all there was to it. WRONG! When I went to bed and fell asleep, my body felt like I was sinking deep down into the bed. My dreams were wild and all of them were in fast motion. When I woke up my sheets were on the floor and my mouth felt like it had been filled with cotton balls the night before and I sucked on them all night. I also felt really disoriented not to mention completely exhausted. When I explained to my x-drug dealing roomie what I felt like he left the house in a flash and marched directly over to the neighbors house. When he came back he told me his suspicions had been confirmed. They had laced the chocolate cake with a large amount of pot. That was the source of the big joke when I helped myself to a second massive piece of chocolate cake that night. They all seemed to be in on the joke and so stayed away from the cake. I never ate their cake again. That is the first and only time I have ever been high and I slept right through it! And that folks is my secret chocolate cake story.

Random Thoughts and Home Sweet Home

Two weeks of sleeping in other peoples beds, eating other peoples food, borrowing other people's shoes, clothes and cars, staying up late, playing games, watching stampede fireworks, hanging around family, driving and driving and driving, going to a heavy metal meets punk meets acid rock concert, stampeding, spending money left right and center, getting eaten by mean little critters who love to suck your blood, seeing new converts come into the kingdom, guiding young men and women into deeper faith, mentoring a good up and coming youth leader, watching the passion play, getting a hug from Jesus afterwards (I knew him he is from Vernon and I watched him grow up at eagle bay camp were I often spoke and now he is a fine actor), seeing some seriously cool and old bones in Drumheller, wondering about the amazing Creator of all this weird whacked-out and wonderful creation, enjoying some crispy cream donuts, shopping, shopping, shopping, picnics, parties, getting a bad sunburn on my bald head, going to church and hearing an awesome sermon by an old bible school buddy, singing happy birthday to 2 complete strangers, singing happy birthday to 3 different family members, leading worship, blobbing some 90-120 lbs kids and watching them sail with extreme joy through the air, gaining a couple of pounds (oops), buying some new clothes, enjoying Banff, dancing with two people named Mackenzie at the same time, late night talks, early morning silence, enjoying a very engaging book, getting lost in Calgary, riding while Cheryl drove in Calgary, experiencing a city bus tire blow out from being over packed with wild, black eyed, black haired, blacked nailed, black clothed, pierced, tattooed, spikes, chains, evil looking t-shirts, pot smoking young people, golfing at Cirrocco golf club with uncle N, auntie J, and cousin Doug, playing bochie ball and going undefeated, playing pingpong and being beaten by a 10 year old kid and a 60+ year old uncle, BBQing, going out for dessert and coffee, watching thunder clouds roll in, listening to a huge rain storm, watching some awesome sunsets, hanging with Jeff and Veronique for a day, buying a cowboy hat, eating a taffy candy apple and an awesome piece of stampede fudge, losing Cheryl for 2 hours at the stampede (ouch), driving home and finally sleeping in my own bed. I had a pretty full and wonderful two weeks. Nothing like hanging out with some of the ones you love the most in this world. Cheryl and I and our girls are truly blessed people. It is nice to be back in our home sweet home!

Face Your Pace

How is your pace these days? In the past 2 or 3 weeks I have had conversation after conversation where I ended up challenging those who spoke with me regarding the pace they had set for living their lives. It seems as though for most folks they don't recognize that the pace they travel at is the exact pace they have chosen. After my mentioning it to them their first tendency is to blame everything and everyone else for their pace. The worst part is that if I had not taken my two months off I would be just like them. During my time off I was forced to stare my own pace in the face and it made me sensitive and alert to this subject. Over the course of those two months, my pace was drastically decreased. I thought I would be very restless but because of the record breaking pace I had been keeping prior to my time off I was far more exhausted than I felt or thought I was.

I think it is possible to live very full and exciting lives and still maintain a sane pace while doing it. I was reading a study of a group of professional tennis players. The study found that often the top tennis players are equal to and in some cases less equal in talent or skills than those who are not considered "top" in their profession. So what made them the best at what they did if their skills were basically the same as the other players around them? Pace. They knew how to pace themselves during matches that can take several hours to complete. What set apart the top of the top athletes was their ability to maximize small amounts of time to remove themselves from the pace of the game. The writers of the study gave an example of one super star who would take a vacation in his mind in the few seconds it would take to walk back to his line before serving or receiving a serve. To their surprise this same pattern was followed by all the best tennis pros. They had learned to pace themselves this way and it often gave them the advantage especially during longer matches and even when playing much younger but more intense (all the time) players.

Jesus was the master of maintaining a sane pace while keeping what we would even consider in our day a pretty full and busy life. He lived his life to the fullest but that included often taking breaks to rest and pray. He instructed his disciples to come apart and rest awhile when he noticed that the pace they had set was getting to much for them. One speaker I have enjoyed in my life named Howard Hendrix used to say that Jesus told his disciples to come apart or they would indeed come apart! So many things suffer when we don't learn this vital lesson on pace. Our health for one thing; Our physical health, our mental health, our emotional health and maybe the most important part of our lives our spiritual health are often unhealthy because of our unrestrained pace. If we are not healthy in these areas then everything else about us and around us will suffer.

Start small; take small breaks throughout your day. Make sure you are faithful at taking one day off per week. Take celebrations seriously. Long weekends, Easter, Christmas etc. are perfect to pull back, take stock, rest and pray about our lives. Church attendance is a simple way to pull back, relax, take a load off of our hearts and minds and be refreshed by the music, the fellowship, serving and by the preaching of the word of life. It is time to face your pace!