Almost Weekly Report

Well, it’s been a very interesting week. I came down last sunday to the Lower-Mainland for a so called mission’s trip. It’s been on my heart for a while to do something where I go to a distant land and help people. I don’t have a passport, and I don’t have tons of resources, so I got creative and… went to surrey, BC.

This week has surpassed my understanding of time, I feel like I have been down here for either one day or one month. Because I used to live in surrey and know a fair amount of people from the area, it has been incredible just to connect with so many people. I sometimes forget the impact of what I am doing, or more so the impact of what God is doing around me, and meeting with so many people causes me to share the stories of success surrounding the last few months. Seeing people set free from depression, relieved of physical and emotional pain. Knowing that God’s desire is for an intense loving and compassionate relationship with all of us.

I can’t even begin to explain the encouragement it has been to me to be able to share some of the insignificant details (in comparison to the greatness of Jesus) of what has been going on in my life. And that wasn’t even the purpose of coming down to the lower mainland. The purpose was to help people.

The first way that I had wanted to do this was through an organization called Nightshift (www.nighshiftministries.org). I came to surrey with no agenda and as a result I was completely open to helping wherever I was needed. This can often be a precarious situation, because you are likely to end up doing something that you don’t really want to do. But the main task that I felt I needed to do was to pray. So that’s one of the things I did. I spent the week in almost a constant state of prayer. Whether I was driving in traffic, scraping tinting off windows at the new nightshift center, or just literally praying. I have prayed for a long time, but as I continue to pray, it seems as the experience seems to grow and deepen because this was the deepest and most intense experience in all my life’s prayers. I felt God closer to me than I ever have before. It was like I was walking shoulder and shoulder with him, and as I prayed and walked into new and sometimes familiar situations it was like He would stop me and point out what HE saw.

As I prayed I felt that God was hearing my prayers as a conversation, that I was understanding His heart for me and the world around me (or all of us for that matter) in a new way. When I prayed for people, I watched as He ministered through me and penetrated the layers of humanity that surround us all by His Spirit. I came away feeling utterly in awe and with a new understanding of my Almighty Creator God. I still don’t understand why He chose me and wants to use me, I only know that He does.

It didn’t seem to matter where I went this last week, I found that I was speaking God’s truth into the situation around me. And where people were willing there was a profound change. I can’t even begin to explain this, because I don’t even understand it.

I spent time serving on the streets of surrey where I witnessed people being transformed by the power of God acting through people willing to demonstrate His Love. But then I also witnessed crowds of people who had been stripped of the little humanity they had as they gathered together in broad daylight to trade and sell drugs and attempt to find a new high. What a contrast to the love that I felt immersed in all week by my Loving Saviour.

I went to my former College, where I met people eager to see God’s passion birthed in the people around them so that lives can be transformed by the power of Jesus’ humility. I prayed with people and watched as God taught them new things about His character and grace in their lives.

Then in a fitting end, I spent 2 1/2 days at a campus ministry retreat where students from across BC came to share their desire and passion for God to change the world and culture around them. I was moved to tears as I watched a Father worship God with freedom and Joy although he had lost his oldest son (22 Yrs) one month prior in a car accident. I was overcome with emotion as the students began to pray to the indescribable God that they serve. I was moved with pure and utter Joy as I watched these same students begin to praise God with their own words and sing simple songs of love to their Saviour, Creator, and Father.

This week I watched as ‘heaven met earth with a sloppy wet kiss‘ and was moved, overcome, and amazed as I understood a small part of the heart of God.

Well, I never thought I’d say it. But some days I miss my Bronco. As my car begins to show it’s age through some bumps, bruises, aches and groans I have started to ponder the thought of replacement. I struggle between the thought of what I want (2010 GMC Seira – 1/2 Ton 4×4 Hybrid) and what I need (which is closer to what I have 2002 Chev Cavalier).

It has been interesting as I puruse used car sites, craigslist, and read reviews. I have been asked by my dad what I want, but it’s so hard to put my finger on it! Cruise control is a must, Power windows a luxury, A/C necessity; But 4×4 is a non negotiable.

So as my dad has examined his ’sources’ and I have scoured the internet looking for the potential replacement. I came across a vehicle that can stand up to the challenge! Watch the vid below and see it in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWc_flGRT_o

I have to say… I was wondering what Port Alice would be like when the REAL winter weather started. But I am really enjoying this so far.

I mean, sure it’s a lot of rain. But it’s REAL rail. Not that west coast drizzle. More than that, there is something awesome about looking out my window and seeing SNOW covered mountains that just absolutely warms my heart. Now I will admit we are one month into what the locals consider winter, but so far… I think I can handle this.

Well, it’s official. I am now 26 years old. And what better way to celebrate the passing of another annual occurrence than with the writing of a blog (Especially since those who ACTUALLY read my blog inform me that I need to update it).

When I was 20 if you had of asked me where I had hoped to be when I turned 25, I would have given you a completely different description than to the person that I actually have. That is why I have chosen to reminisce on the person that I thought I would become.

AGE 5: When I was 5 I had my life planned out in complete detail. I wanted to be a carpenter, get married to Valerie Wilson, and have a yellow Car. It was all very simple and had never seemed that far off. For some reason in my mind I held the understanding that I was turning 20 when I was actually turning 6.

AGE 10: In complete and utter denial of my being and state of likeness to that of my Father, I proclaimed to the world (a whole 100 people around me), that I was going to be an architect. I no significant Idea about what this life would look like other than the fact that it would allow me to draw and build houses. At this point in my life I could actually envision living somewhere outside of the town that I had called home for 8 years: Little Current.

AGE 15: I was lost in a world that I felt disconnected with. Wandering around in a state of self discontentment I honestly didn’t care. I thought of the prospect of computer programming, or possibly still architecture… more importantly I just didn’t really want to be around people. And was unsatisfied to be alone caught in my self misery.

AGE 20: In realization that all of my previous attempts to plan out my life hadn’t been even in the right zip code, I established a set of 5 year goals. Nothing too high and lofty, and nothing too low that I shouldn’t be able to accomplish them. Since I was in Bible College, it made sense that I would expect and have the goal of being completed and in a pastorate. I also decided that it would be prudent to have my debts paid off. The high and lofty goals seemed to count for such trivial things like: I want to have a truck AND I want to have the down payment for a house.

AGE 25: realizing that I was failing to meet my previously set 5 year plans, I gave myself an extended deadline and estabished that I would seek to have them met BEFORE I turned 26.

AGE 26: Well, here I am. I have managed to complete one of the goals: I finished Bible College and am a Pastor.

All this being established what does it show? We have a society that is very much focused on preparation and planning for disaster, emergency, crisis, career, family. You name it… you can plan it. But what does this accomplish? Where is the wisdom in it? My life now resembles nothing of what I thought it would become when I was 12, nor did I have any real knowledge about what would be practical when I was 15.

I made the effort to become nothing like my father, and I ended being more like him than I even realize today. I made the effort to go into computers or technology, but that is seemingly a previous life. This all leads me to question the motto of our modern world: “PLAN FOR TOMORROW”. Why? I have no clue what’s going to happen today, why should I plan for tomorrow. I like the biblical answer: “do not worry about tomorrow… but let tomorrow worry about itself” OR “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)”

So here’s to having no plans or ambitions.

No… I’m not getting married. And it doesn’t look like i’m planning on it anytime soon, so don’t get any ideas.

But I went to my friend Jeremy’s wedding a week ago in Powell River. It was good to see him take the dive. I went with my friend Sharon and while we were waiting for the wedding to start, we started talking about “alternative” wedding ceremonies. So for anyone thinking about tying the knot and are in need of some different ideas, here are a few.

Alternative wedding ceremony #1: Tribal
Picture this, you and your spouse to be, with all of your friends and family traveling to Africa for your wedding. It happens at sunset surrounded by beautiful scenery. When the sun goes down, you and your guests all take torches and Light a ‘ceremonial fire’. As the fire begins to grow, the celebration begins… Someone picks up an african drum. The drum beats swell and grow, enticing people to begin to dance around the fire. The celebration is ecstatic and all leading towards the culmination of the ceremony, where you and your future husband/wife enter into a traditional hut to consummate your vows to the shrill cries of your family and friends dancing to the rhythm of the drums.
The entire event erupts as you emerge Husband and Wife. The fire burst into huge flames and the sounds double and triple in volume as the great war of love has been won.

Alternative Wedding Ceremony #2: Traditional, Very Traditional
With the backdrop of stained glass and the sound of the thundering pipe organ. This entire wedding ceremony is performed in Latin! The music is sung by a 150 member chamber choir. Just imagine walking out of the church to the sound of the Hallelujah chorus resonating through the streets in celebration of your new marriage!

Alternative Wedding Ceremony #3: Guess who planned our wedding
Of all the alternative wedding ceremonies this is my favorite! Rather than stressing yourself with the task of organizing and planning your wedding, why not allow someone else to do it for you! No, I’m not talking about an expensive wedding planner. The privilege of planning your wedding goes to the highest bidding family member. That’s right not only would you have a great surprise as to the style of the wedding, but you would also save yourselves from all the stressful family arguments about what your wedding should look like. This wedding literally takes care of itself!

Well… that’s all I have to say about that. But for more fun you can check out another alternative wedding ceremony with a dance theme on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Well… apparently I think that I post more often than I actually do. I thought that I had posted at least 2 weeks ago, but it was the first week in July.

So… here’s where I am right now. I’m on a ‘little’ island called manitoulin. I know that probably everyone already knows this because I like to advertise the fact. But anyways… I finally have settled into the routine of vacation (aka Vacay). It took me a while, but I am now relaxed. I think.

Today we went out into the boat and took the ‘traditional’ trip from our Cottage to South Bay Mouth where the Ferry comes into the island. It’s all quite fasinating, you can google it if you would like. But that’s where I am right now. I’ll post pictures when I get back to Port Alice. That’s all for now.

Well, it’s been almost 2 weeks since my last report. Which effectively illustrates the “almost” part of the Weekly Report. Once again the two main factors for my failure to post anything has been due to my busyness and the lack of internet access I have.

Right now, I’m writing to the cyber world via my Parent’s house in Duncan, BC. I made the trip down yesterday after dropping a friend off at the ferry in Nanaimo. It is nice to have a break, last week was a whirlwind. The church helped out with the canada day celebrations, so in the morning I was up at 8:00 getting ready to flip pancakes, then at 10:00 it was off to put together a float for the church, then the parade, then a brief break, then we had a community barbeque at which we fed about 200 people. It was lots of fun.

We finished the night off by getting together to watch the Movie ‘the burbs’. And let me say, it was quite the cultural experience. I’ve never watched the movie before and I was watching it with people who had watched the movie hundreds of times. So rather than having an instant replay, I had an instant preview of what was to come in the movie. This was because the people on either side of me were on the edge of their seat with expectation of what the next line was in the movie.

The most exciting part of the day was when I got to go for a ride on a Coast Guard zodiac. I had always dreamed of riding on one and seeing how fast it could go. It was an absolutely thrilling experience, so as a result, I just had to film it with my camera. Check out the video on youTube here: Canada Coast Guard Ride

Well, I know it’s been a long time, almost 2 months since I’ve posted about the experiences that I’ve been having in Port Alice. I can always tell that I need to say something or update the almost weekly report, when my parents start making comments about it being the “almost monthly” or “almost quarterly” report. Thanks for the reminder mom and dad.

It has been a whirlwind of the past two months, I’ve had tons of things happen and when there is so much happening two distinct problems occur. 1) I don’t have time to write about it, 2) I don’t know how to differentiate and write about specific occurrences. So, now that I have some time, I will make an attempt to give you an overview of what has been happening in my life in Port Alice.

In the Last two months, the events of note are as follows:
I found a Gun, was inducted into the church by Ken Russell our District super intendant,  Was visited by My family Twice (Once with my nephew Noah), Saw an average of 3 bears on each trip into Port Hardy (times an estimate of 14 trips = approx. 42 bear sightings), Had a clean up day at the church, Planted 3 Gardens, helped the Hovde’s re-roof their house, Prepared about 8 sermons, Helped George Ewald in Port Hardy lead worship, visited Duncan, Victoria and Sidney, watched 5 seasons of Startrek TNG, attended a wedding for my friends Mike and Michelle, and put 8000 km’s on my  car.

I must, however, make note that the hardest part this two months was when we had to say Goodbye to Marilyn Cox. Although she’s now in her new home with Jesus, we all miss her.

So, as you can see it has been a busy two months, hard to choose from if you are going to write about what’s happening. This last weekend, was another eventful one. Our church was blessed to have a worship team come up from Campbell River Christian Fellowship and lead worship at our church.  They were kind enough to let me play the piano and sing with them, but I think that might have been the trade off for them invading my house. They are a crazy bunch of people which meant that we had a lot of fun, and even more food.

Home is a tricky thing. It’s strange for some of us it is a foundational concept and place. It never changes and never moves. It is our security.

Last week I was in Langley for our district conference, It was good to be able to connect with peers, mentors and friends. But it was a long and busy three days. During that time I was able to stop by in Surrey and say hi to some of the Staff and Kids I worked with, then I had lunch with a couple of good friends. Then more food with more friends.

By the time I was on my way back to Port Alice I was ready to be at home. The only problem for me is that Home hasn’t always been a foundational, unchanging thing in my life. It has at times eluded me. In fact, the entire week before conference I was questioning whether or not I had actually settled in at my new ‘potential’ home.

Well, after a long and busy conference, and an even longer Drive. Tired I pulled into Port Alice and realized: I was home.

Well, reality has set in. I now live in Port Alice. Although, I still occasionally catch myself thinking that I need to go back to Surrey soon. It is a strange feeling when this happens.

I guess that the reason this reality has finally settled in has been because of a couple of things. First has been the rain. For the last week and a half, I have been trying to garden. I make plans to go outside in a morning or afternoon, and it will be sunny, then when I want to go out and garden… it’s raining. 5 Minutes later (literally) it will be sunny again.

Second, once again gardening related, I went to Campbell river and bought a Gas WeedEater. When I finally had the weather to try it, I filled it with Gas (yes it was mixed), and then started it. It ran for about 30 Seconds and then stopped. The motor ceased, but in order to take it back I have to drive 3 hours. Oh well. That’s life.

Despite the downsides to this new reality, I am really enjoying myself. And I love the pace of the town, and haven’t had a problem finding things to do.