I get great enjoyment from watching good movies. I love relaxing and going into the world of Braveheart or Nacho Libre. This however, was one of the worst movies that has ever been produced. It was rediculous. I'm sure others with a tv actually knew from the previews that is was going to be terrible. I just saw two of my favorite cheap movie actors and thought it was a shoe in. No such luck.
It was far to crude for even me. The worst homosexual jokes ever.
I turned it off halfway through. There was no getting better.
All the copies were out at blockbuster when I was there. Don't fall victim to this stinker.
Ho Ho Ho
The shopping season has come around again. I'm sure the stores have already logged some successful shopping days after the Thanksgiving holiday. Yippie HOrAy! I was tooling around on the interweb and found some nerdy statistics on shopping over the last decade. This year American Adults are expecting to spend an average of $859 on Christmas gifts. That is great. People are so giving. That number is actually down from $907 last year. If people actually have that much to spend on Christmas gifts without putting in on the old Visa or Mastercard that would be wonderful to be so generous.
This year Carrie and I are looking to put what little money we do have towards gifts that can actually make a difference in someone's life. I don't really need anything this year (not that I needed anything in years past) maybe some cat butt magnets would do nicely. I guess I could use some underwear since all of mine has been attacked by killer moths apparently judging from all the holes they have recently gotten in them. What gifts we are buying; we are trying to spend our money where it goes to something more than some shirt bought at JC Penny.
Investments in Fair Trade items and world vision make a difference in lives around the world. I was wondering if there are anyother suggestions out there on good gift ideas? Let's end some poverty while we are enjoying a nice Christmas with our loved ones.
I have a confession to make. I am no thealogian. I probably didn't even spell it right. Anyway; one thing I am convinced that the world really needs is relationship with others. We were not meant to do life by ourselves. Today I was at the pottery studio and my good friend Roger came in. We were already full to capacity, but we told Roger he could hang out and have some coffee. I could instantly see that Roger was not his normal self. He was wasted, but it still wasn't his normal drunken state. I asked Roger if he wanted to talk about anything. He said sure. I knew he was going through an extra difficult time and to top things off his girlfriend that he had just broken things off with works at the studio as well. Roger expressed to me that in so many words his life wasn't worth anything and he wanted to end it all and not deal with any more pain.
I am so thankful that God does not leave us alone with situations like this. Over the next hour or so the holy spirit did some serious work and was able to speak words to Roger in the midst of drunkenness. Roger was buying into so many lies. It simply wasn't Roger I was talking to. God was able to speak encouragement and a sense of worth into Roger as he cried like a child in my arms. Although I didn't really know what to do, it was so amazing. I am so thankful to have been apart of that Kingdom breakthrough.
Without a relationship with Roger who knows what might have happened. Not that I really did anything. He felt safe enough to come in there and be received with love. We need more places like this that accept people no matter where they come from and what they have done in their lives. The Kingdom came crashing into the world today and repaired some brokenness. I am so fortunate to be apart of the blessed work that God is doing in the place.
Man I love Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I can't be home for the amazing Holiday that brings folks together. I think in many ways our relationships are strengthened by being away. Absence does seem to make the heart grow fonder. We miss you all so much. Carrie talked to her family today as they were all gathered and laughing and getting ready to gorge themselves with some turkey and stuffing. It made both of us sad. However; I can't wait to get together tomorrow with some fellow Americans who have been like family in some ways while we are here in Vancouver. We will be having a full on turkey dinner and I'm sure we will be laughing it up.
I think about the last year and I have so much to be thankful for. Too much to list really. Some of the big things are:
an amazing wife
great friends
a year in Vancouver (although difficult)
provision in overabundance (food, clothes, money)
coffee; lattes; americanos
glittens (not gloves and not quite mittens) and other warm garments
ability to do whatever I feel I'm to do with this life
half of a brain
love
chance to make a difference in the world
I can't wait until the next turkey day already.
For the last few months I have scooped up some new hobbies. Both of which I actually took part in today. I just got back from drumming (djembe) lesson. Earlier today I worked in someone's basement remodeling project. I love going down there and spending as much time as I can. My goal in doing this is to provide decent service for dirt cheap and get them ready to rent the basement suite out by January the first. That would be sweet if it actually came together and we met our goal. What I should also mention is that I am not too handy. I grew up with my mom for crying out loud. She never taught me how to fix anything. Maybe a good sandwich or something...hehe. Sorry about that. That was lame.
So anyway. I have been doing this and it gives me great pleasure. I get to do something for someone and I am learning something new and I get immediat gratifacation for my work. I can see tangible results when I am done. I get to give myself a big pat on the back and head home. The work of human hands is a great thing. We have had similar results in our neighborhood garden this year as well. That started out as a real dump and we mangaged to turn it into something better than average. As you can see it is not looking too bad. Wink
Not too shabby hugh. My work looks very similar to these photos. That's why I included them. Sure I occassionally screw up a piece of drywall or something, but in the end I see perfection.
Ahh time sure goes by fast. It seems like just yesterday I was watching Rocky four lay the smack down on that huge Russion Robot Drago. Those were the good old days when Rocky was having a pretty good life and his family was in tact, however, this Russian fool killed one of Rocky's best buds. I would be pretty ticked too. Oh and need I mention Rocky was in great shape.
Well for his latest and greatest, life for Rocky seemed anything but good. His wife had died somewhere in between number five and this last one. To top things off his son is always mad at him for his previous success. What is a guy to do. That's right get back in the ring again and show some young chump and the world who is boss.
All in all it was a pretty good movie. A nice ending to the Rocky saga. I was wondering what happened to that guy. I found it to be mildly depressing with the loss of his wife and all, but he managed to pull himself up by his bootstraps and have one more glory day. He went back for a little taste of the glory...to see what it tasted like. I must admit for an old fella he was in decent shape. Kuddos to Sly. This movie is worth watching if you have seen the old movies and are dying to see how it all ends up.
As some of you may have known, we have had some pretty intense time within our community and our places of ministry over the last six weeks. This is great, but I need time to step back and see just what is going on in my life. I have felt so stressed over the last coupe of weeks because of all the conflict going on amongst our immediate community and folks in the community where we do ministry. We are not called to an easy life all the time my friends. Rich and plentiful yes, but not always enjoyable.
In the last couple of weeks I have been faced with personal challenges and conflicts that I could run from and never think about them again. I could have told myself that it is not worth it, or it won't matter to try to talk things out with people. However, I feel that it is experiences such as these that define who we really are. It is easy to love those who are nice to us. We can easily be nice to people who are nice to us. Chosing to love and go the extra mile for someone who would like to physically harm you is what can change the world around you. Just a thought.
Today was a Canadian Holiday called Remembrance Day. I don't spend enough time praying for those who are suffering. What would the world look like if we just prayed more?
The big things to Remember and pray for are the places of suffering in the world. People are suffering everywhere. Darfur and places all over Africa come to mind. I can't imagine the horror that is taking place in that part of the world. 
The war all over the middle east is something that I find easy to not think about unless you know someone in the midst of the fighting, but we need to continue to pray for that situation and world peace. I was just watching some crazy footage on ABC news and I was shocked at what they were capturing on video.
Jesus says to love our neighbors. Are we really fulfilling that commandment? I don't feel that I am. This day in age we have a hard time claiming ignorance to many issues, especially these big ones. One of the best things to actually do in order to bring about the Kingdom of God is to pray for these situations. Collaborate with God to change the world.
A different reality is possible.
Being in an uncomfortable place I often can't help but to look for pieces of home in an unfamiliar city. One of the places I go is Starbucks. I know the regular coffee is terrible but I go for the familiar atmosphere. It is strange how it makes you feel right at home. This particular store is actually down in Seattle. It is one of the first if not the first store ever.
The logo has changed a little bit since they went really big. I don't think everyone would appreciate it. I think it's kinda cool looking though.
This is just one of the things that brings us comfort in addition to the generous donations of skyline chili and other wonderful things that cincy has to offer the world.
Carrie and I are so lucky to have such great friends and family back home. I am often reminded how blessed we are. We have such a great life why would anyone want to leave it? Well I don't know. Sometimes we are called to step out and do things that look really rediculous. There is just something that goes on inside you that is so strong it consumes you and you have to make a move. I am thankful for that discontentment that was so strong it made us act and redirect the course of our lives. Otherwise in fifty years we would have been wondering what life might have looked like if we had made a move.
A lot of the time we aren't really having fun here. We know that we are growing individualy and together in ways that we can't even realize here. Growth hurts at times. I just rest assured that this is only temporary and we will be back before you know it. Then who knows what. Sometimes it is hard to go through life like this because our society tells us that this is not wise. There isn't much security in this plan. I like to call it faith, others might think of it as stupidity or immaturity.
Well this last weekend was awesome. I felt like I was really in another world. It is amazing how fast you can get away from all the noise of the city and quickly find yourself in a great bed and breakfast where you can eat like a king and your wife can get pampered with a quite affordable massage. We ate, laughed, celebrated, relaxed, hiked among other physical exercise, and even fell down some stairs. Seriously. The retreat was wonderful and well worth the cost.
We all need one of these babies in our homes. The two person soaker tub is to die for. 
The best burger I might of ever had. So good. All in all the one year wedding anniversary was perfect.
That's right folks the big one year wedding anniversary is today. We are so excited to get a night away tonight at a bed and breakfast out of the city. We are going to Buntzen Lake and staying in what seems to be a rather nice place of retreat. We are trying our best on a limited budget to make this event special. I must say I got Carrie a rather nice floral arrangement this morning and a fine bottle of wine for the evening. 
Who knows we may even conceive our first child. Any good names out there?
We should celebrate more often.