Acts

I am taking an class on the book of Acts. I have to read through the book 6 times, each time in one day. This is an excerpt from an assignment I have to do each time I read the book...


This was my first read-through of Acts. What I noticed in this reading was the urgency to spread the gospel as far as possible. There was a clear understanding by the apostles and all those that called themselves Christians of the importance of making Jesus known. Christianity was exciting; the newly forming community of faith was exciting. People were drawn to Jesus; lives were being changed, really changed. This reading showed me Christianity actually being lived out. The people in acts understood what it meant to be the extension of Jesus’ ministry here on earth; they grasped through humility the power extended to them by the Holy Spirit. What a fantastic picture of abundant life. I had a moment I where I really questioned what was going when I read the story of Annanias and Sapphira. I could not understand how what they did was deserving of death. The condemnation that I perceived as I quickly read through it was hard to take. Perhaps more light would be shed on the situation when I take more time to look into all the ins and outs of what was going on.

tricked

The phenomenon about North America, to me, is not the fact that we are crazy about getting gifts before Christmas but rather the fact that we are crazier to get more stuff after Christmas... when we already have got tonnes stashed under the tree. People that go out shopping on boxing day don't bother me so much, but it's the waiting in line since noon on Christmas day and all through the night at some electronics outlet store so you can save $300 on a 52 inch plasma, which you are still paying almost $1000 for when it's all said and done.
Boxing day is clear evidence to me that we are a little bit tricked of what is really important. I am not free of being tricked either. I am taking this class on Acts and one of the assignments is to read through acts 6 times, each time being in one day. I started yesterday, and was amazed at how these apostles lived.
These guys really understood what mattered. Rather than waiting in line all night for a 52 inch plasma t.v. they were waiting all night in a jail for the Lord to do something. And guess what He did. And this stuff He did, recorded in the book of acts is more enticing than any entertainment system I could get at Visions half off. Pretty awesome stuff.

Mafia runs our city.

So this dude came into Starbucks today, clearly a little out of his mind, claiming that all these people we see in the news have all these crazy conspiracy stories behind them. For example, Gary Filmon is a billionaire apparently... But he mentioned that he was brilliant, that he can read people, that he needs to know the truth on things, which is why he knows so much about all our politicians, and their "real" stories. He looked me straight in the eye and said "you're smart like me, I can see it...you've got an I.Q. of over 300, mine is 450." I almost lost it at this point.

But it made me wonder, what if this dude was the dude, what if all these things he was saying were in fact true... what if Gary Filmon was a billionaire, and Sam Katz was part of the mafia! He also said half of Winnipeg is run by the mafia, which I kind of believe.

By the way, he said he met Stephen Harper, and he said that he never steals money from anyone...he's a straight shooter and a good prime minister.

Interesting huh?

it's like -87C with the wind. enough said.

Rumours...

so I went to Rumours Comedy Club tonight here in Winnipeg with my fiance Dana and some of her family. It was a good time overall but I realized something about comedians these days. there's not really any such thing as clean humour anymore. the guy up there tonight was from San Francisco, and apparently (I overheard the manager of Rumours talking with a customer about this) this guy was one of the cleaner acts they have... Now I don't think I'm sheltered, but I thought some of his stuff was just unnecessary, even kind of gross.
It seems like comedians humour is solely based on the "taboo" subjects in most circles, or else the humour thrives at the costly expense of someone else. there was this guy in there tonight just getting roasted the whole night...and I wondered to myself, "will this guy actually take some of this to heart?" He just had to take it because your powerless in the audience at a comedy show. You can't really defend yourself, so it's almost like you pay to be vulnerable and hope the comedian doesn't catch eyes with you, because if he/she does...you're getting roasted the rest of the night! It seems like comedians strictly want to get a reaction from the crowd, even if it's out of awkwardness by the subject. They don't seem to have any sense of really connecting with the audience in my mind...

so I ask a very simple question, "where did the Bill Cosby's of the world go?"

so blue...

I know that there is more to life than football...

but not much more. I am kidding of course. Well only half kidding because I did find myself listening to "emo" music and looking through the 2007 Bomber roster at http://www.bluebombers.com/ around 2:30am yesterday almost crying myself to sleep because it was so hard to see those guys who worked so hard all year not come home with a ring. I get emotional about the blue.

I am saddened by the loss yesterday of my team, especially because I know without a shadow of a doubt that there would have been blue and gold confetti spewing out after the game if one bone wouldn't have been broken.

You can't make excuses though, we had to play with the cards we were dealt, and they just weren't good enough yesterday.

I am sad for guys like Stegall, Glenn, Roberts, Brown, Simpson, Westwood...I could go on.

I am happy for guys like Kent Austin. I think he's a classy fellow.

But, it is history now, even a day later...

So, it's time to hit the gym again, look at game film, pick up your britches... and do it all over again.

I will always be blue and gold... always.

Bombers vs Riders...what a beauty

I can't think of a better match-up for CFL's most coveted cup. Perhaps it is because my home team is in it, and perhaps it is because it is arguably the best rivalry in the CFL!

My boys are going into the Cup with their 2nd stringer at the helm... You know what though, I'm not all that worried for some reason. I think the man from Boise State will do just fine.

As for the networks that were hoping these two teams wouldn't be in the big Dance because ratings would be down... I say this to them: "The only thing good about the cities of Toronto and Vancouver is the number 1 hyway that leads straight to Winnipeg!"

Obviously I say that half fecisiously, as I know some good folks from those cities...however, gear up folks...This will be one heck of a show! W

What a beauty, I can't wait.

my boys

O bombers, my bombers! You snuck one out yesterday... Atabeeboys! The Rough Riders won too, so I'm hoping that we'll see them in the Grey Cup so we can destroy them like we did at the Banjo Bowl!

you've gotta think positively, right.

Go blue!

still immature I suppose...

I went to Subway today for a delicious Sausage Egg Breakfast sandwich.

I ordered and the lady said, "I'll just be a minute, I just have to zap your sausage in the microwave."

I chuckled deeply.

So immature.

Yet so frikin' funny.

Surveying...

Dictionary.com defines the word "survey" like this: to view in detail, esp. to inspect, examine, or appraise formally or officially in order to ascertain condition, value, etc.



When someone surveys something, they are searching it out in detail, they are examining all the parts of it in order to get a view of what it is...and if you are a good surveyer, you will also see what it means for that which surrounds it, if you will, the value of it.



As I was sitting at my desk today, I was listening to the song "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" as sung by Kathryn Scott. I was moved to the point of tears as I sat and listened to the words of a surveyor who managed to not only see the cross but more importantly the Saviour Jesus Christ who died on it. To say that the writer only saw the value of the cross to him is a gross understatement I think, as the words in the song convey a deeper message... one that begs all those who call themselves followers of Jesus to give undying devotion to Him.



As I survey the wondrous cross, as I look at it in detail, I realize that I do not formally ascertain the condition of it or Jesus, but rather the condition of myself... Then my gaze is thrust upon a love I can not fathom... and I am drawn to my knees by this kind of love; a love that truly does demand my life, my soul, my all.

so this is not me standing on my soap box, or me telling you how the world is... this is simply an announcement...

I am engaged. I asked dana to marry me on October 14th, and believe it or not she said yes!

We're both thrilled!

Strange calls...

As I was about to sit down and write this, I had an experience that just confirmed to me what I had been thinking about writing...

The phone rang, and I picked it up as normal, "Faith Covenant Church," and it was a lady asking for the pastor. Now, when you work for a church, you know that these phone calls are either people looking for money, or they are really strange...they are not usually looking for the start times of church on Sunday.

I told her that he wasn't here, because I was tired (coming from my job at Starbucks) and did not want to deal with her, but I said I'd take a message. Well I got more than I bargained for. This was her message,

"You need to pray for Canada. You need to pray for Canada and the U.S. Canada is in great trouble. There is a lady here named Cindy. It's short for Cinderella, and she a witch. She is here in Winnipeg and is practicing her witchcraft right here in the city. You need to pray for Canada, she's gonna kill everyone! She is going to kill both white and black people. You need to pray!"

How many of you want to be in church ministry now?

I'll tell you, it never ceases to amaze me the uniqueness of human beings. I told the lady that I would pray, but in my mind I was wondering "WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS?"

Regardless of if what she was saying was true or not, there is a deep truth that speaks in a loud voice for me, the truth that I was planning on writing about before the phone call....

We need Jesus, people. We need Jesus!

As thanksgiving came this last weekend, we were all reminded of all that we have, and hopefully reminded that we did not earn all that we have...that we were given gifts gracefully by God.

We are fragile people in need of a Savior.... So yes, pray for Canada, pray for the U.S. and countries like ours in abundance, that we would not forget how fragile we are, how much we need God.

When we recognize our weakness, it puts us in a posture of thanksgiving and humility... and I believe this is the posture that frees us from the chains of autonomy, a state that leaves us dissatisfied.

There is freedom waiting for those who humble themselves and pray.

Lord, let me never forget all your benefits...may I never cease to give you the honor and praise always.

Whirlwind trip...

Last week, a friend of mine asked me what I was doing this week for a couple days...I said, "nothing," and so he proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go to Philidelphia to pick up a vehicle he bought, then drive to Columbus, Ohio to pick up another vehicle, then drive home to Winnipeg.

So, this was how it all shook down:
-Left Winnipeg at 7am and arrived in Philidelphia by 1pm.
-Picked up at the Phili airport and drove to Cherry Hill, New Jersey where we picked up the car
-Ate lunch in New Jersey
-Left and drove straight to Columbus, Ohio
-Picked up the 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel Quad Cab (which I drove the rest of the way)
-Continued to drive until past Indianapolis, Indiana
-Stopped at a reststop at 2am, slept for 5 hours.
-Hit the road again at 7am, arrived in Chicago at 8:30 am
-Drove on the Chicago skyway during rush hour with what seemed like three million other cars
-Drove the rest of the way home with a few stops here and there, arrived back in Winnipeg at 1am in the morning.
-Made it home and in my bed at 2am.

So we flew to Philidelphia and drove back in about 40 hours, as if we were just going to the store and then return right away.

It was intense.

Oh Lord, this is a serious request!

Kevin Glenn got injured tonight...
the world needs to pray that God's teams' quarterback get's better...

God, I recognize my need for you.
I recognize my need for you.

In the prayer room: September 12, 2007

I feel as though prayer in this room has not given me any kind of blatant yes, no, or wait answers... And for that I am grateful, for it spared me from taking the answer in my pocket and going on my way, alone. God has, rather, left me in nowhere, but he is here with me in nowhere...prodding me to "continue praying, my child..." as it seems to be his way of saying, "continue walking and learning with me, my child." I do not know where I am, but knowing who I am with has given me an unexplainable peace...

This is the grace of God to me today...Thanks be to Him.

Lose to someone classy...

Finally...after almost 6 agonizing months of looking at an ugly minivan that we had bought out west in order to sell here, we got rid of it!

It truly is a glorious day. Actually, we ended up losing money on the ordeal, but it turned out o.k. The person(s) that we sold it to were the right people to lose money on. They were Filipino folks from the North End of our city. The guy who was buying it, get this,wasn't even gonna drive or technically own the van... He was the god-father of a 29 year old family man who just moved to Winnipeg a month ago from the Philippines, and he decided to welcome him here by buying him a $9000.00 vehicle. What's truly amazing about that is that he himself drove a van that was a piece, way worse than the one he bought for his god-son, our van.

So, I'm truly o.k. with losing money on our van experience to some classy, classy folks, whom we could probably learn a lot from.

I'm thankful for that.

sick of being sick...

for some reason I don't just get the 24 hour flu. My 24 hour flu turns into the 2.4 day flu, or more.
It's been interesting (and it always is when I'm sick) how you realize the extent you take health for granted.
I need to remember things like good health as part of God's provision for me.

Saturday morning Starbucks kaibosch

it's about 7:15am on Saturday morning. Some may be wondering why I'm up this early on a Saturday. Well I start work at 6:30am Saturday mornings. Some may be wondering how I am blogging while I'm at...oh the light just came on.

Yeah I totally turned off my alarm and slept through it all. I can't even say it was an accident because somewhere in my psyche something said, "turn that wreched noise off, I don't need that this early!"

The worst part about it all is that on Saturdays I'm only available until 1pm, which means that he (my manager...whom I was supposed to open with...yeah bad time to be late) had to wake some poor soul up to cover for my sorry keister, then try and fill shifts accordingly. So, basically, because I turned off my alarm, 7 other people's days are messed up.

I'm being hard on myself because I just hate being late. It bothers me, and especially these kinds of things where you really screw some others over because of your tardiness. I definately know that I wouldn't want to be the one getting the early morning call on Saturday.

At any rate, now I'm waiting to hear whether he even wants me in today or not because of my availability on Saturday, or lack there of... not being able to cover for a shift later in the day.

So if anyone of my Starbucks homie's who work Saturday are reading this...sorry.

really?

there is a middle aged fellow who, quite regularly, comes into the Starbucks I work at. Every time he comes in he's talking about job prospects out in the rich west; be it working on an oilfield, or as a truck driver somewhere, or whatever. In fact, he left Winnipeg a couple months ago and headed for B.C. for a big money job, but was misled as to what he was actually going to be paid. So he returned.

Last night he came in for a coffee, and once again he was talking about the money to be had out west. He was talking about some position in Alberta, I'm sure on an oilfield, where 18 year olds are making $15,000/week...(which I hardly believe), and he said something interesting as he finished talking about that and was leaving, "That's what I need."

really?

Immideately my mind had flash images of mom's and dad's, children, and grandparents in our third world contries who can only wish for $15.00 a week, and that would be incredible for them. By the way, most of the world lives on less than $1.00 a day...Which if you do the math is $7.00 a week...Not quite $15,000/wk. My soul was filled with grief as I realized the kind of trickery and false hope that has gripped so many of us North Americans.

Now I know that we live in North America, and nobody could live on $1.00 a day here, but let's think about it; What do we really need?

It's been blowing my mind to read about Jesus these days in light of all this, because Jesus definately was not shooting for $thousands of dollars per week. In fact Jesus says, "don't even make that your primary concern...what should be primal in you (if you are my true disciple) is my Kingdom...a kingdom that worries about the hungry, the thirsty, the broken, the down and out...these are to be your concerns. If you seek this out first, then you will be fine in these other things you so easily worry about." Jesus tells us, the smartest creatures on earth, to take a lesson from ordinary sparrows..."Look at the birds of the air, they do not stockpile in barns or store away just in case things might run out...they know they will be fed, they know they will be okay... If you only knew how much more important you are to me than sparrows, you'd realize how silly it is to spend all your time worrying about money things."

Now, if I think back to the man that comes into starbcuks always worried about money, I could say; "now here's a perfect example of the opposite of what Jesus is saying, a man that lacks trust, a man that focuses on all the wrong things..."

I am that man so often, and I need help to make the Kingdom of God my primary desire over any other thing this world could ever offer me...

Help me to trust your better way of living.

"Aim at Heaven, and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth, and you will get neither."
-C.S. Lewis

old friends...

hey this is a blog post devoted to connecting with an old friend. I saw that "Mike" wrote a reply to my last blog. If you're reading this, which Mike is this...Mike Baumann a.k.a. haus, Dean Mike, or Mikey Borely....I dought it's the last, but I'd like to connect with whichever Mike that was that left the reply.
You're all good mikes.
more later...

better...

for teen camp this year, we've been diving into the book of Hebrews (not an easy book to understand let me say) and thinking about our theme "better."

"For the law made nothing perfect, and now a better hope has taken it's place. And that is how we draw near to God." -Hebrews 7:19

If something is better, it has to be compared to something else. I was thinking about this as I was reading a story in John 4, about a Samaritan woman. In it, it speaks of a woman in the first century who, in my opinion, is trapped. She is trapped because she is a woman, and in that culture, at that time, women were not treated with much dignity... She is also a promiscuous woman, having many husbands, giving away of herself to many yet lacking one who can satisfy her need for security. She has a daily ritual of going to the water well to fetch water right in the heat of the day. This is her duty. This is her life...

One day, as she is going to do her daily task of getting well water, she finds a man sitting there at the well. This is where our story picks up...

She notices that he's an out-of-towner...not one of her own kind. She was hoping that she could just get her water, and leave quickly without having any sort of confrontation with the man. Much to her surprise, the man spoke to her. "Please give me a drink," he says. The woman replies "why are you speaking to me, can't you see the difference between us...you don't talk to people like me, and yet you are asking me for a drink." Then the man turned things personal and made a bold claim, "if you knew who I am, and the gift I have for you, you would as me for a drink, because I have living water." Thinking the man was talking about the well the woman replied, "you don't even have a bucket or rope, look how deep this well is...where would you get this 'living water' you speak of... besides, this well was built by Jacob, (arrogantly) yeah, maybe you've heard of him, Jacob, the great ancestor of ours. Jacob dug, drank, distributed, and delighted in this water, how can you have better than this?" Again, the man calmly made a bold statement..."People become thirsty again after drinking this water...but the water I have, you drink it, and it takes away your thirst." He caught her attention now, "please! give me some of that water," the woman replied.

For the woman, the thought of a quenched thirst, the thought of leaving the laborious chore of coming to the well in the heat of the day everyday enthralled her. She wanted what was better.


After continuing their rich conversation, the woman eventually realizes that what she really wants, what she really needs, is this mysterious man who seemed to find her. She left her water jar at the well, signifying she had traded in what she thought would satisfy her for this offered living water, for what was better. She juxtaposed what she had, and what the man offered, and came to the conclusion that what he had was better... She, excitedly, rushed to find some people to share in her joy, and said, "Come! meet the person who told me everything I ever did!" Deep within her, her soul cried out with joy because she had met someone who knew her better than herself. Not only that, but she had met someone who released her from her prison of dissatisfaction. She met the living water, better life, better hope, better promise, and better choice.

"now a better hope has taken its place. And that is how we draw near to God."

Long weekend in the city...

While most people were heading out of the city to various wilderness vacation destinations, I stayed. I remained in the city mostly because I had obligations here in the form of work, but it didn't turn out to be a bad thing. Actually on the contrary, it was one of the better long weekends I can remember.

See, as my buddy Clayton Nelson says, "I love being in the city on the long weekends, because no body is here." (that's probably not an exact quote, but the idea)...he says he likes the fact that the coffee shops aren't busy, that the traffic isn't as bad...it feels sort of like you're actually able to slow down even though you are still in the concrete jungle.

What I liked about this weekend was the fact that going for ice cream, or going to a movie, or just napping half the afternoon away was not such an imposition... What a freeing feeling. For example, today, I went to church then went to have lunch with Dana and some other friends at the Old Spaghetti Factory at the forks (we took our time there, no rush right)...then after that, Dana and I went to her parents house for about 5 hours, just chilled, played some boggle and had a good meal. What a beautiful thing it is to forget about schedules and deadlines and all the things we do to become more free but (mainly) only leaves us more constricted. It's nice to drop those things and to just be. It's nice to just do what you like, do what you want to do for a day.

So, next time you think you are stuck in the city for a long weekend...think again, you're not stuck, you can actually be quite free.

another day, another latte...

perhaps just past 6am on a Saturday morning is not the best time to be blogging, but here I am trying to make sense of life already at the early stages of the day... (by making sense of life, I mean wondering where my work shoes are) Yes I'm heading off to make sure addicts have their fix in the form of coffee's, latte's, and frappuccino's. One of the things I like about working on Saturdays is the fact that most people that come in on this day always come in on this day...you get to know the folks a little bit, beyond just another latte for the customer. It feels real good to have someone come in, recognize you, and even call you by name as if they are happy you are working that day, serving them.

we'll see how this day goes, maybe there'll be some crazy event that happens and I'll have some fantastic thing to write about. or maybe, it'll just be another day, another latte...

An old franciscan once said...

If you feel the call of the spirit, then be holy with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength. If, however, because of human weakness, you cannot be holy, then be perfect with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength.

But if you cannot be perfect because of the vanity of your life, then be good with all your soul...Yet, if you cannot be good because of the trickery of the Evil One, then be wise with all your soul...

If, in the end, you can neither be holy, nor perfect, nor good, nor wise because of the weight of your sins, then carry this weight before God and surrender your life to his divine mercy...

If you do this, without bitterness, with all humility, and with a joyous spirit due to the tenderness of a God who loves the sinful and ungrateful, then you will begin to feel what it is to be wise, you will learn what it is to be good, you will slowly aspire to be perfect, and finally you will long to be holy.

mondays...

Because I work at two different places right now (Starbucks and Faith Covenant Church), the schedules are such that I work 6 days a week...I don't work, technically, more than 40-45 hours a week between the two, but I end up working tuesday to sunday at either place.

This makes monday my only day off.

As I get older, and as I start to be more confident in what I like, I'm realizing the value of doing what I like on my day off. For example, I used to think I'd have to do all the little detail things, the errands and what not on my day off in order to make it through the rest of the week. Yesterday, I did only what I liked. I woke up, mulled around the house a few minutes, then took a walk to the Grant Park Mall. I love that walk, and I love that mall, because they are both quiet for me. In the mall there is a McNally Robinson's, so I usually go there to read or look at books. Yesterday I was feeling the pressure to read and get caught up on my reading...but then I realized, no I just want to browse through the books and just look around...I just want to sit in the Prairie Ink Restaurant and have a nice lunch, and not worry about how much time I'm spending in there. So I did.

It was splendid.

There is real wisdom, I think, in taking care of yourself...I know that sounds elementary and simplistic, but I wonder how much we actually do that.

I guess for most people mondays are killer. But for me...they are a lifesaver.

our very own sauna...

I posted a while back about how this house (in the summertime) is a heat box, that you lose weight just living here. Well yesterday night surpassed anything I'd experienced at 690 Jackson Avenue.

Holy moley it was a suana in here yesterday, especially yesterday night. No matter how many windows we opened, we simply could not cool off the place last night. Bruce, Matt, and myself live in the upstairs, in the tower, up in the heavens, or as Clayton puts it, "the upside down hell" in the summertime. It's brutal.

It's an awful feeling being in bed, having no covers, wearing only some gotch and still feeling as though you're in your very own sauna, which normally I suppose would be a posh thing to have, but in this case it sucks.

It's time to bring out my industrial heat killing, fast air blowing, machine I affectionately call "fan-zilla."

Time to cool off.

"It is not joy...

...that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful," says Brother David Steindt-Rast. I'm reading this book called "Ruthless Trust" by this guy named Brennan Manning. Tonight I was reading about gratefulness, and realized I often lack the fruit of the Spirit known as joy, and maybe (just maybe), the reason for this may have some correlation to the fact that I forget to be grateful...



As Manning puts it, we often forget "the way of gratefulness." And it is "a way" I think, it's a way of living, especially as a follower of Jesus. And if being a follower means doing what the person you're following is doing, being grateful is pretty much demanded of us seeing as how Jesus was always giving thanks to God.



The chapter was talking about how it's hard to have a heart of gratitude when we seem to be getting the screw job in life. For example, when your interior life sucks, or when your marriage is falling apart, or when someone dies, or when you just feel like a no good loser.



As I was thinking about this, and as I was thinking about how we often get pissed off at God during these circumstances ( at least how I often get ticked at God during these circumstances), I was reminded of a guy in my small group who was sharing about a hard circumstance in his life.



His dad had died some years ago, and if that wasn't bad enough, his mom's health was failing, slowly but surely...she was now losing her eyesight at this particular time, and he was sharing the heartache he felt when he saw struggling to do everyday normal tasks. After he was done sharing, he said something so profound, I knew right it was something that is true and right. He said, "I've come to the point where I realize that God owes me nothing." Those are virtually the same words God speaks to Job after Job's life falls apart on him and he tries to find meaning in all of it... something in my spirit finds freedom in those words, a freedom I can't fully explain.



So, I must remember this when I am in despair, when I am in the darkness, when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, when my interior life sucks, when things just don't seem to add up in our human equation of fairness...



Listen to these hopeful words, spoken by Brennan Manning,



To be grateful for unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in darkness. (Manning, Ruthless Trust, 37)

another picture of the cat...

this is the catfish I caught about 30 seconds after I cast my line for the first time... that is the wierdest feeling having your hand in it's mouth!

Cats on the Red...

Yesterday, Doug Watt (in the background of this picture), a friend from our church took Gavin (holding that big ugly fish), Erik, and myself out on the Red River near lockport (only about 10 minutes from Winnipeg) to go catfishing.

If you have never done this, you need to!

The fishing that I am used to is bobber fishing, where you catch a fish that maybe weighs 2 pounds...if your lucky. This kind of fishing is much different. First, the bait you use isn't some little wussy worm, but a montster piece of shrimp...In fact these catfish are so big, that when we ran out of shrimp, doug cut up a Goldeye that he had caught earlier, and we put him on the line. Gavin got the fish head on his line.

When these things bite, you know the fricker is on there. They grab it and run with it. As doug says, these things are "preditors." When they bite, you've gotta really hold onto the rod, set it on your stomach, or your belt, and pull hard, then you reel it in slowly at the right times.

When you finally get the thing close enough, dougie grabs the net and snags it...Then when you actually see the thing you've tired so long to get in the boat, you want to throw it back right away, because they are SO ugly. Nasty things really. They're the type of creatures you just want to hit with the ugly stick... but it's so worth it to so them, what a rush!

Then after you've measured it, (mine was 32 inches long, and about 24 pounds), you take a picture with your prize catch. This is herocious. You've gotta stick your hand down it's mouth, let it bite onto you, then pick it up and hold it's tail end with your other hand... The picture I posted on the top is what this looks like, that is Gavin with his monster.

All in all, it was a beauty day with the boys, fishing in the sunshine, shootin' the breeze, some sunflower seeds, some cigars. All was good.

It's a beauty having friends like dougie around. thanks dougie.

feels like the west coast...

winnipeg has felt a little bit like Portland or Vancouver, or Seattle with all of the rain and clouds we've been getting over the last couple weeks.

I lived in Portland for about 6 months, during the rainy season. It wasn't all that bad the year I lived there, it was actually a pretty dry winter. But I do remember March. March was kind of like what we were having here, except even more rain if you can believe it.

When it get's like this, you wonder if you will ever see the sunshine again. You sometimes wonder if you even remember what the sun looks like. You start to expect clouds and rain in the morning, clouds and rain in the afternoon, and clouds and more rain in the evening and night.

But then, something beautiful happens... It happens on the west coast, and it's happening here this morning in Winnipeg...You get up, and look out the window and see this amazing blue thing up above. they call it "sky." Ah, a break from the clouds! You see and feel this brilliant light that shines on everything from up above, they call this "sun." Then all of the sudden, for me, you are drawn to a happy place, and this happy place is not stagnant... You want to be pro-active in showing your happiness. You want to say something to the person who gave you these gifts...they call this "thankfulness."

I am thankful today, Creator God, for this break in the weather...and how it reminds me that you will never forsake your people, that you are a good God, and that you desire to give us good and perfect things.

voices...

have you ever had an experience of making a decision, and you have all kinds of different voices telling you all kinds of different ways to go about making that decision...have you ever had many different voices telling you what decision to make?

if you've ever been in that situation, you know how incredibly hard it is to balance yourself. You know how difficult it is to actually make a decision because you're wanting to please everyone, yet everyone wants different things...

I was reading in Proverbs today from the message, and this is what it said:

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track. (Prov.3:5-7 Message)

The decision making process becomes even more interesting if you are a follower of Jesus. We are told it is wise to listen to God's voice in everything that we do.

But what is his voice saying?

I realized that because Jesus does not physically walk here on earth any longer, perhaps true wisdom is not solely finding out what God's voice is saying, but more so finding out what voices God is speaking through.

I heard it through the grapevine...

I figure some things are better heard through the grapevine...For example, when someone is not pregnant, but just has gained a little weight...it's better to hear that through the grapevine, so you don't have to look like a fool when you ask a fat person if they are expecting.

so here's my news to share through the grapevine. dana and I are dating. yeah, I liken it to asking someone if they are pregnant when they're not...so just to make everything easier, I figured I'd share this on the world wide web so that people can hear faster, so hopefully there are less of those awqward silent conversations...

I figure probably 2 people actually read this, and if both of you told one friend, and those friends told one friend each...the whole world will know in about 1,500,000,000 days.

that's not bad.

Ikea rookie...

I must have been in a cave the last 10 years, because apparently it's unusual to be 23 and never been to Ikea...I mean, I had first heard about it a long time ago on the movie "fight club," when Edward Norton is obsessed with Ikea.

I was down in Minneapolis this last weekend on vacation visiting some family, and my mom called and asked me to pick up some stuff at Ikea for her...I was off...

First off, this place is freaking huge! It's like a big blue and yellow box, a home decorators playground.

I can't even imagine how much that place is making off that stuff, I must say there were some really cool items there, and it made me want to buy a house for the sole reason of filling it with Ikea stuff. I think I have a problem.

But the stuff wasn't the main highlight for me at Ikea...It was not the cool lamps, or the nice bedroom sets, or the cool art, or trendy curtains...It was the food!

Where else in the world can you get 2 hot dogs, chips, a drink, and a cinnamon bun (that was to die for) for only $3.25!!!

What a beauty. I wish we had one of those here in Winnipeg so I could cut down my dining out budget. What a beauty, I loved it.

we made it...

I can hardly believe it...but we made it. We actually played a continuous street hockey game for 100 hours...actually 100 hours and 2 minutes to be exact.

It really was phenomenal to see the 100 hour turn over.

I have to say, I am glad it is done now. It is something I will only do once in my lifetime, and I'm glad I did it while I am still young with some agility... though I may have lost all that now!

One of the things I liked the most was meeting all these folks that were friends of Chris Watchorns (the organizer of the event). It's always good to have lot's of time to chat it up and meet new poeple, and to re-connect with old people.

I'm grateful to have been a part of this event, and am hopeful I won't have permenant damage from it!

record breaking hockey...

starting tomorrow (sunday) at 2pm central time, I will be joining almost 40 other guys to try and break the world record for the longest street hockey game ever played!

It is a fundraiser for Cancer Care Manitoba, and we are trying to beat the previous record of 30 hours straight set by some chumps from Alberta. We're gonna try and destroy that record....I know it sounds all raw raw, but I'm honestly a little frightened about how hard this is going to be...I think it's gonna be a struggle. I hope we make our goal.

here's to breaking the guinness world record holding longest street hockey game.

called to give...

every once in a while, here at the church, there is a phone call from someone who wants money. As I have not been in ministry for years and years, I don't have a crazy amount of experience with this, but I do have some...

today, a guy called the church, actually I think he's been calling the church a few times in the past week trying to get ahold of someone. Turns out the week he got ahold of us, Gavin was nearest to the phone, and he was "the man" on campus. So this guy, Darryl, he had a story, was it true I don't know, but it was a story. As Gavin told me the story, it seemed very well rehearsed...however, you can never judge for sure if a story is for real or not...

That was not the point. As Gavin was telling me the story, we both kind of had this realization that as a follower of Jesus (never mind the fact that we are pastors), we are called to give. We are not God, and we don't know the human heart. We don't know if Darryl was for real or not... but when someone asks something of you, you need to be willing to give.

Turned out Darryl was homeless, jobless, penniless, and had a plethora of illnesses... When we met him, he said "Sir, I feel like job." What he wanted from us was a night at a local hotel so he could rest. He said he was going to be getting a social assistance cheque on thursday, and would be on his way then.

After Gav and I talked to the manager of the hotel for almost 45minutes, trying to understand his side of the story (as this guy had been there a couple weeks), we finally came to the decision to put him up for one more night...

It's sometimes hard to discern exactly what a person really needs... sometimes it's better to start with what we have to give... what we do know about Jesus is that he was a giver...he helped people, they did not always deserve it.

Gavin stepped up and payed the bill for this guy to stay one more night, and also paid the unpaid previous balance from the night before...Kudos to you Gav. that is godliness.

This is ministry. haniging out with the derelicts, discerning things, seeking wisdom. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Gav even said he'd do this stuff for free he loved it so much...but that's off the record. I don't want him to be calling me up at the church saying he needs me to cover another night at the Palomino Plains Motel anytime soon.

2004 Kia Sedona LX...

that is the title of over 10 ads I've placed for this dumb minivan that we (Joel, Erik, and I) own and are trying to sell....

Frustrating, to say the least!

So I've come to this, planting ads wherever I can...if anyone needs a minivan, let me know, I've got one here! just jokes, but I think it's funny that no one is even interested at looking at this thing. We're selling it BELOW wholesale.

I guess minivans just aren't cool. We'll know next time to get something more cool, so that we can sell it faster...

Lord send our way a practical family parent who needs a practical minivan, or send a soccer mom, or soccer coach, or someone who just wants to smoke weed in a van with their friends...I don't care, we just need to sell this thing.

rainy day...good day...

it's a rainy day here in Winnipeg...but it brings thoughts of flourishing life to mind. People can often feel down, and dreary with the rain, but it inspires me...because I know what it brings.

I went downtown today, to the Millenium library to do some sermon preperation. It always seems to be raining when I go down to the library...but I like it because it seems to help my thoughts, not sure how, but it does.

There's something nice, dare I say romantic, about being in a library, looking out the glass at the downtown being soothed with rain, with a good cup of coffee close by, reading books that bring your thoughts closer to your creator.

jehovah jireh...

funny how sometimes you so clearly see God giving good things to you, even though he is an ever-giving Being.

for the last 3 months, I've been having mediocre sleeps, at best! my mattress was a piece and so I have been sleeping on my box spring with some random foam on top to keep it "cushiony." None-the-less, nights have been full of tossing and turning, and I knew eventually I'd have to break down and buy a new bed. I was going to hold off as long as I could, however, as I added a new car purchase to my list of owing others.

yesterday, though, God pulled through for me, big time. I just decided to go visit my old pastor, Gerald Froese...He showed me upstairs where he was doing reno's, and one of the first things he said was "hey, do you need a bed?" I'm like, "yeah!" "Alright, let's load it up and bring it to your house."

How awesome is that, Gerry needed that bed out, which by the way is practically brand new, he said slept on maybe 10 times...and I desperately needed a good bed.

Thank you Gerry and Judy.

Mostly, thank you God. You are Jehovah Jireh, my provider...I lack nothing, thank you.

my ode to my cars...

for any of you that know me, you know that I have had a few cars in my lifetime...maybe that's an understatement. In just 4 years, I've owned 10 cars! again, for any of you that know me, you know they've been mostly pieces.

last week, I entered a new land in my car experience...the land of the brand new. Crazy for Cody Anderson, I know! I figured that I needed something consistent in my life, that I needed to end this pattern of buyin different cars just to add change to my life... and that doesn't cause a problem until you start losing money on them real quick. that was my story, most of the time....

I bought a 2007 Hyundai Accent, and I am in it for the long haul! It doesn't make it so hard to be in it for a while when it's something you really like, something that you enjoy driving.

As I was thinking about all the other cars I've owned, I realized I have driven quite a plethora of makes and models. I want to list them down here, from the first car I owned back when I was 19 to the present day.

Here is my list of the beauties over the years, enjoy:
-1994 Dodge Spirit (the first, and a memorable one...the tranny blew in the first week. Chris Klowak now has owned it for almost 4 years...kudos to you klowak.)
-1992 Chevrolet S10 (I felt hot in this one, my first truck. my uncle darin gave this truck to me, what a graceful jesture...I kept this one the longest out of all the cars I've owned thus far. goes to show that sometimes free gifts are the best gifts.)
-Freaking old truck camper (o.k. so this isn't a car, but it's a notable mention because it's so rediculous...i had this brilliant idea to go out one saturday and buy a camper. I've always been in to those things, and I found this old one that fit in a truck, and since I had a truck, I thought it just made sense to buy it. I got it for $400, strapped that baby on my little S10 with tie down straps, yikes!>...and had the scariest ride I've ever had in my life on the perimeter hwy back home. I think when my parent saw this big rediculous piece on their driveway they knew the full extent of my addiction.!)
-1986 Nissan King Cab 4X4 (this one was a piece of work, I mean literally...It was a two toned "I till yuo whuat" redneck rock crawler...it had 31" wheels, and plenty of rust, I sold it probably 3 weeks after I got it, but not before bruce reimer and I took it on the floodway to bury it in some mud)
-1979 Volvo 242DL (I was living in Portland, Oregon and thought I had some extra money. I saw this beauty in the classifieds for $800, I went to look at it and got it for $540...I put a paint job on it, and kept it until I left Portland. I definately ended up losing money on that one!)
-1991 Subaru Loyale (I gave my truck to Erik while I was out in Portland because he wanted it to do reno's on his house...this just gave me a good excuse to buy another car! this is what I bought, what a sweet car... Erik now owns this one, it's still ticking, literally now.)
-1984 Volkswagon Rabbit (my pastor owned a 1979 Rabbit and loved it, so I figured I'd buy one and test it out, figuring that 1984 was just as good as his awesome 1979, oops...this turned out to be the biggest mistake car I have ever owned! What a joke, I'm still paying off the repairs on this one! A friend and I drove 3 hours to look at it and buy it, and when I got it, it needed about $1000 worth of work!. this whole experience is way better to be left in the past, right dana! you live and you learn)
-1989 Dodge Aries K Car (after my bout with the piece that was the Rabbit, I figured I'd step up in the car world and go to this one! I bought if for $600...I kept it for a few months, and then gave it away to some great folks I know, they are still driving it)
-1986 Jeep 4X4 (I picked up this piece from a sketchy dude in the north end...It was definately an impulse buy, and thus I ended up selling it 2 weeks later...I made the most money on this one when I sold it though, about $500, and also gained a crazy story in terms of the people I sold it to)
-1992 Buick Century Wagon (I bought this from an old man who had babied it, it was a sweet looking ride [at least I thought it was] and all it needed was a roof rack to be really awesome...done and done. I sold it because I was going to try walking everywhere, I made $100 on it.)
-1982 Volvo 240 GL (so my walking excursion lasted 10 days, and it ended as soon as I laid eyes on goldie locks here. this gold volvo gave me awesome memories of the 1979 Porland Volvo...this is the most recent used car I've owned, in fact I still own it, and I'm trying to sell it, because...)

That brings me to my 2007 Hyundai Accent...it's a sweet ride...this list will halt now for at least 5 years...I hope you enjoyed the show.
-cody.

why owning a dog seems wierd to me...

I was driving down a street near the church I work at and saw someone with their dog. A sight that I've seen thousands of times in my lifetime, but this time I was struck by it...

See, I saw this lady and her dog, and I saw that the lady had a plastic bag around her hand watching her dog intently...the dog was walking around sniffing the ground looking for the next best place to take a terd fergusson...and the lady...she was watching it as if it was the most exciting thing in the world!

That's not the wierdest part though, the really odd part of this, to me, is that people actually choose to do this! I mean think about it, this lady walks around with a plastic bag on her hand, hoping her dog will take a deuce, and then she just grabs that nasty ole' thing and walks home carrying her dog's crap in triumph because "sparky" was a good boy and went.

People actually choose to do this.

Wierd.

when there is no air conditioning...

so after a long winter, it is finally really starting to feel "summery" outside. with that, if you live at 690 Jackson Ave. you are in a tall house with no AC. I mean today it was only about 23C, still the warmest day of 2007 thus far but nothing compared to what's coming, and it's freaking warm in this house already.

That's alright though, I'm burning calories just living here in the summer months. I guess it just means I can get most of my excercise watching the NHL playoffs.

I'm alright with that.

professor popsicle made me pee pee in the cold tank...

yesterday I experienced something that I have never experienced before...

I was a human lab rat.

Back in the fall I had heard about this masters student who was looking for human lab rats to experiment on. He is a student who is working under Dr. Gordon Geisbrecht (A.k.a. "professor popsicle"). Professor popsicle has his own lab in the Max Bell Center at the U of M, and this is where I went yesterday to enter death for 5 hours...this is how the story goes.

I showed up at the U of M at around 11:50am. I am a punctual kind of person, and like to not be rushed when I go to anything. As I walked into Room 211 at the Max Bell Center, I was wishing I wasn't so punctual.

I walked in to another guy in the process of freezing in the... cold tank. I looked at him and could feel the cold! His face was nearly white, and he was shivering uncontrollably, hardly able to speak. As I saw this situation taking place, I realized I was going to be that guy in about 30 minutes, and started to weigh the options...I figured I was a fast runner still and could probably jet out the door and run out of the Max Bell Center and into my car in 5 minutes flat, drive home and never go near that place again... Or I could be a man, stick it out, and make the $100.

I chose the latter. oops.

The assistant lady gave me a stack of papers, told me to read them and sign them. These things always make me nervous... "Why is there so much information I need to know before doing this" I thought. After reading the papers, I have to say running away was sounding very good.

But I am a man right... (insert manly grunt here) so I signed the papers, and got changed into my swim trunks.

The first thing they did was hook me up to what seemed like hundreds of electro-lites (not sure how to spell those) which give you shocks, and make your muscles contract. I'm a hairy bugger so I knew when he was putting these things on my chest, and near my armpits, I was in for some serious pain when the tape came off. As the guy leading the expiriment finished putting the wires on me, I heard the assistant lady say "I'm just gonna stick this tube down your throat." (that was my interpretation). "what?!" I said in a disbelief kind of way. She went on to explain that this was the most important part of equipment on me because it monitored my core body temperature...and seeing how the expiriment was supposed to drop my body temperature by 3C, I figured I needed it. But this tube thing, I don't wish it on anyone... It's one of those ones that goes in up your nose and goes down your asophogus (sp?) and just sits there. That's right just dangles in your body! She grabbed the tube, warmed the end and said "on the count of three I'm gonna stick this up your nose, and you're gonna swallow" (again, what I heard, it was more scientific sounding). 1, 2,...holy #*@! what just happened! Folks, I now know what cruel and unusual punishment is.

This frikin' tube was absolutely irritating me the whole time. I just couldn't get used to it, even though they kept saying I would forget it was there.

*Just a funny little side thing that happened here at this point...* At about this time, the leader of this expiriment was asking me some questions, just getting some small talk out of the way. And he asked me what I did. This question is always funny for me because I figure nobody EVER guesses that I am a pastor. So as I told him, "Actually, I'm a worship pastor at a church" his response was priceless..."Get the f*ck outta here!" (in a surprised, not mad way) "Oh sh*t, sorry... I mean, sorry." So, clearly, my assumption that no one ever would think I work at a church is right. but, Oh, how I love these moments.

Anyway, after they had me all hooked up, and had me now walking like C-3PO, I was ready to do preliminary biscept testing... The only uncomfortable part of this is the electro-lites. They have to find out the maximum shock they can give you in order to really get your muscles to contract. Again, cruel and unusual punishment. I don't like hearing, "alright, we're gonna raise this up to 250 (giga-whatevers) in shock now" after you had felt like your biscept was going to explode out of your skin after the last one!

After all the preliminary testing, it was now time to die...

Yes, this is the part where I was strapped into a harness, lifted above the floor, and slowly dropped into a tank about the size of a bathtub (but much deeper) with water that was cold enough to drop my body temperature 3C, making it 34C...Actually that sentence isn't entirely true...the water wasn't totally freezing yet. they have some sort of grace and start you out in water that is about 20C, which if you have ever been in water that temperature, it's still dang cold! But I was in there and thinking I was tough, thinking "man, this is all you got, I could sit in here, get used to this water, and have a good ole' time." About that time I had that thought, death came riding on the shoulders of the Masters student in the form of 6 monster bags of ICE. Yeah, he plunked them on the ground, and proceeded to dump ALL 6 bags into my little coffin of water.

At this point I was thinking I should've taken that extra shift at Starbucks.

The bags of ice wasn't the end though...oh far from it! Next came the tub jets...You know how nice it is when you're sitting in a HOT tub, and you have the soothing consistency of jets behind your back...well I had a variation of that. I had jets blowing on both sides of my body, but these had none other but freezing cold water coming out of them.

Lord save me.

The next part of this story is called "Shivering." No I'm not talking about the little shiver you get when you see something that is deeply moving, or the type you get when there is a slight chill in the air...I'm talking about all out uncontrollable shaking! I was a disaster...It's like you want to control your body, but it controls you! You can't stop the shaking because your body is doing it to keep you warm, and your body does not find it normal to be in, get this now, 7C water! That's right, the water had plummeted to 7C. to the lay person, that is TOO dang close to pure ice.

So here I am, I had been sitting in this tank for 20 minutes, shaking to keep myself alive, and then I have this awful realization...
"I have to take a leak" I thought. I mean, I really had to take a leak...

As best I could I called the expiriment guy over and told him my plight. I asked him if I would have time to go to the can after I got out of the cold tank before we did the muscle testing...he said no, because it would skew the results as my body would have a chance to warm up. Then he said some of the most horrifying words I had heard in a long time..."You know, this might sound really wierd, but... you're just gonna have to go in the tank."

Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabacthani.

I was mortified! Here I am freezing my ace off, with a tube dangling in my asophogus, freezing, with wires strapped to me, did I mention freezing, having to take a leak...but having to just let nature take its course in my swim trunks!

Again I was at a crossroads. I could either set the world record for holding it when you feel like your gonna explode you have to go so bad, or I could sit in this cold tank and take a wizzle in my shorts...

Again... I chose the latter.

Oh how good it felt though.

The guy came back, looked at a guage and said, "you raised the damn temperature of the water!" and threw in 3 more bags of ice.

I thought I was a good person?!

This next part of the story is called "I think the Lord is calling me home now." After the slight distraction that was me taking a pee pee in the cold tank, I realized I was still in 7C water...When you're in the tank, you hold onto this board, it's called the "Gord Board" named after Professor Popsicle (Gordon Giesbrecht). I was now holding on for dear life, because I felt that if I let go, I would go home to be with my Lord and Saviour. Unforunately for me at that point in time, it was not my time to go...It was still my time to freeze my can off.

I sat in that tank of 7C water for 1 hour people...1 hour! Yeah, I'm not sure how that worked out either, but I'm here writing this now so I must be semi-o.k.

I was lifted out of that tank, and I looked about as red and pink as I think a human body could ever get... Oh the burn!

After I regained normal consciousness again, they make you go through tests of muscular strength that make you feel like a wimpy little girl because you can barely flex your muscles.

This next part of the story is a happy part. It's where you get to sit in HOT water until you get your body temperature back to 37C. Oh how sweet that was...

Finally, after a grueling 4.5 hours, it was over...almost.

The last part was to take off all the wires and equipment hooked up to you by tape.

Remember before how I said I was a hairy bugger...yeah, that's where this comes into play.

This part of the story is called "free wax job." enough said.

The last part of the story is called "taking out that dreaded tube in my body." Remember how I had said I was feeling discomfort with it the whole time, and just couldn't stop thinking about it...well, when he counted to three and I breathed in, and he pulled the tube up out of my asophogus, through my nose and out, I saw why it was uncomfortable. The freaking thing was bent in half! So everytime I would swallow, my throat muscles had that much more to get caught on, and I was basically fighting not eating the stupid tube the whole time!

Now if by chance you are reading this, and by chance you made it this far, you may be wondering a simple question, why? Why did I do this? well the answer is simple, I am part of an event in May that forces us to do some fundraising...

yeah, I dislike fundraising that much. that is why.

All in all, it was really quite a miserable experience, but dang it, I got a seriously good story out of it...and you know what, that's worthy taking a pee pee in the cold tank.

lovin' it...

so you can never know what kind of weather you are going to get in April in Winnipeg...but this is such a beauty surprise! Another awesome day outside. Got to play some street hockey (and realize how out of shape I am), got to eat some hamburger helper with the bruce, am listening to some good tunes, a good cup of coffee... life's good isn't it? I just gotta remember that on the more not-so-good days.
I thank God for these blessings and more...I pray my life would reflect his goodness.

another day older and what do you get...

so I celebrated another birthday on the 17th of this month...

I've been realizing some things about getting older. First off, you start reflecting more on where you've been, where you've come to, and how you've got there. This is a good thing, as long as your past is kept in balance with your future. In other words, as long as your past is big enough to see, but not so big that it obstructs your view of the future...Like my good buddy Randall Holm (a professor at Providence College) says, "it's kind of like your rear view mirror in your car." You need it, but it can't be your whole view.

the other thing I realized is that the older you get, the more you see situations repeat themselves. You see history do a...well... do-over, in some senses. As a child who has touched a burning hot stove element knows the outcome of doing it again, so I now know certain outcomes of certain situations in life that inevitably come up over and over again. You can't always stay away from the burning hot element in life, and as you get older, you start to know how to interact with it...perhaps even use it for good (if that makes any sense). Hopefully, with that knowledge or wisdom, you can have a better idea of how to act and react in those situations because you continue to gain what they call "wisdom of years."

one of the last things that I know is that I really know nothing in the scope of all there is to know... it's funny because I think of the things I know now as compared to three years ago, heck, even a year ago, and I'm amazed...so I think, it will be unreal how much more I'll know 2o years down the road...but what really astounds me is the fact that even then, even by the end of my life, what I know is so, so, SO, minuscule in comparison to all there is to know.

Thankfully, in life, it's not all about what you know...it's also about who you know.

another school shooting...

sometimes I really dislike having a newspage as my home site when I turn on the internet...

today is one of those days.

In Virginia today, at a community college, at least 22 people (possibly more) have been shot dead in the case of another deadly school shooting (according to the CBC). As I read it, I couldn't help but enter into that horrific spot, that place of hearing gunshots resonate through the building, 30 to 40 times...the sound of screaming...it's all too graphic for me, and nearly brings me to tears.

What's going on in our minds these days? That's where it starts.

I pray for these families that had to wake up this morning to a phone call, or a police officer, or, worse yet, the news, telling them their child (or husband or wife or father or mother or daughter or brother)... has been murdered.

It's times like these that the thought of having no God, having no order, is far scarier than having a God who seems to "let these things happen."

so I was wrong...

apparently wireless internet has made it's way to the middle of a forest, in poe-dunk Manitoba! Yeah, I'm at Red Rock bible camp in the middle of the Whiteshell, and yeah, I'm blogging...

I'm not sure whether that's cool, or incredibly sad...I think I'm leaning toward the latter.

Anyway, I was wrong because I said I wasn't going to write a post until Sunday...but, seeing as how I can write something now...I don't have to write on sunday. right?!

It's going well out here, the kids are real fun...funny kids too. I think it is going to be a great weekend. Looking forward to the events that will shake down.

from the middle of a forest, beside a lake, under a clear starry sky...
-cody.

goin' back to hikes school...

well, I'm off in about 2 hours from now...to help out with a youth retreat that my friend Allan Mailloux (pronounced "May-you" but I like to pronounce it "May-locks") is putting on.

I woke up this morning just pumped...because I was going to a retreat again! It was like I went back to high school, and I was ready to have a blast with a bunch of good folks at a cool place.

I will be gone until sunday. I'm real excited to see where God takes us to this weekend.

Hopefully, I will be back in one piece to write again here on Sunday night, filling in the details.

Until then...

riding season...

so I'm loving the warmer weather, and it's so nice to have the sunshine out longer than 2 hours a day!

It's really making me itch to get out on my motorcycle and start riding...

Yet it doesn't want to start, and for the life of me I have no idea why.

ticks me off.

I suppose there ar greater trajedies in life...
not many though.

had to cheer myself up...

after writing that depressing last posting...I needed something to cheer me up

this baby totally makes my day! So funny, my gut hurt after watching it I was laughing so hard.

watch.

hard days for Canada...

I was saddened as I read the breaking news just recently that another 2 soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan...

You know, it seemed for a long time that that kind of news was only about the militia from our neighbors to the south. Well, it's about us now. It's wierd to read about suicide car bombers that are targeting Canadian vehicles there... yeah, the country that is supposed to be friends with "everyone" is now being targeted in Afghanistan by suicide bombers! I know it's naive to think that this is the first time Canada has been targeted...and I don't think that...but it is still unusual to read.

but more than that it is sad. I'm still struggling with the fact that these Canadian soldiers, some of them still kids really, are being killed out there, for...?

The last few days have been hard ones for Canada...

What starbucks has taught me about the end times...

So, in my few months at the Starbucks on Corydon I have learned a lot of things...For example, I know how to make all kinds of Latte's, Cappuccino's (but don't know how to spell it), and these things called Frappaccino's.

But today...today, I got to learn a very special lesson. Yes, today the lesson was on the end times.

A lady came in to order her drink. Because I was on bar, how it works is the person at the till calls the drink out to me, and I, in turn, call it back and proceed to make it. This lady had asked for a latte, with 2 sweetners...i.e. 2 "splendas" for someone that knows we only carry those on bar. So there I go, making the drink with accurate precision, making sure that it is done very well.

What happens next is that you put the drink on the bar and call out "I have a Grande, Non-Fat, 2 splenda, Extra Hot, Latte."

I handed her the drink, and was going to go do something else, and I looked over and there was a kind of a horrified look on her face... "You put splenda in here?..." "I asked for sweet and low" (which she didn't because she said "sweetner," which last time I checked, wasn't code word for "Sweet and Low..." "Sweetner" could be anything, it could be Syrup for crying out loud!) Anyway, I went on a rant there... She pushed the drink back towards me, and I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to re-do the ENTIRE drink because of a few grains of sweetner! To her, the end times had come, and she needed her saviour that was "Sweet and low!"

Everything in me screamed that this kind of pickiness was wrong...yet I was caught in this battle of thought, because yes, she did pay almost $5 for that drink, and it should be done right...but come on! 2 Sweetners, and you've gotta throw away a whole drink. Am I being unfair in my estimations here?

so, therefore, my conclusion is that we are far too spoiled, and we need to chill out a little bit (maybe a lot) over the little things... because after all, it's not the end of the world.

Interactive blog #1

thanks Chantelle! -cody.

hmm...an interactive blog, hey? I'll give it a go...even though I didn;t make it to church this easter, God still has a way of teaching me when I least expect it. I'm kinda stuck on fiddler on the roof right now (mostly because I stumbled upon a dvd of it this weekend, and I almost forgot how amazing that movie is!) but at the very beginning, there is a line that caught my attention... the narrator says something about how tradition keeps us balanced and without tradition, our lives would be as shaky as a "fiddler on a roof" but oddly enough the theme of the movie has more to do with change than with tradition. anyway I better get to the point here or else I'll just end up ranting about this movie forever (because I really liked it...haha) it got me thinking lots about tradition and change, and how faith can sometimes seem so stuck in the middle of both, and how it sometimes helps makes it easier to accept and even understand why change happens and tradition sticks around.anyways, thats just a tiny piece of what has been going through my mind...and I'm excited because I feel like God is going to go somewhere with this..like He's gonna teach me something here. anyways, thats all for now. ~Chantelle (wow..getting all this out of my head and into a more concrete form helps to sort out thoughts, regardless if they make sense to anyone else or not)

Refinding our rhythm...

so, I figured I should write today in case any of you follow this and take anything I say into consideration... I didn't want you to think that dead Jesus was still dead.

Quite the contrary. As we sais in our church today, "He is risen!"
He is risen indeed...

what has caught me this easter season is a phrase that my brother conjured up while thinking about the events of this week that happened over 2000 years ago. The charge is: "Refinding our rhythm..." I thought it was a genius thought. It brought everything together in my mind this year.

It was as if when I heard the phrase "refind your rhythm," it was like God was shouting to me, "remember who you are!" It begged me to come back to my roots; that is a stripped down person who is only secure in relation to my relationship with my creator. It was so fresh to be brought back to my creator, my saviour, this easter. I thank God for what he has taught me in this very special time of year.

so I don't know if this is against blogging etiquette or what...but if you comment on this, (if you feel comfortable), share with me what you've been learning over this easter time... what has/does this season meant/mean to you? Please share, and if there's enough feedback, I'll post it all on my next blog.

thanks.

dead Jesus...

so tonight, for maundy thursday, we went to experience artwork by local artist Christian Worthington (at his beauty loft in downtown Winnipeg) to prepare us for this weekend's significance.

The art he does is incredible. There was one specific painting that haunted most people that looked at it. It was a huge painting of Jesus, lying on a stone table... dead. I know it almost seems wrong to say that, but it is what it is. I kept coming back to that painting, I was drawn to it. Most people were avoiding it, or couldn't look at it long. But it had the most significant effect on me. I think I know why...

It gave me the most raw, clear, and vivid picture of Jesus' humanity. It gave me a blunt realization that Jesus actually died. He was dead...not just play dead...he was lying on a stone table, dead...separated from God, for three days. This picture, so clear in this painting, gave me such an appreciation for our Great High Priest who knows our weaknesses and can identify with our pain, because he went through it all himself...even death, for real.

Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

-20C camping

yeah, it's true. gavin, gerry, erik, del, and myself decided to take an 18 hour excursion out in the vastness that is no more than half an hour east of Winnipeg.

We took this crazy dirt road into where we stayed yesterday. Because the sun was bright and warm, the dirt was more like mud, and I just about wet my pants laughing because Erik was driving "goldie locks" (my rear wheel drive 1982 Volvo 240 GL) through these ruts that seemed higher than the car itself. Gerry and I were in his truck barely able to stay on the road ourselves because we were laughing so hard...I suppose I won't be laughing now when I have to get (what will seem like millions of $ in) front end work on the old girl. oh well, it's so worth it to laugh that hard.

we found a beauty spot, nestled in between two ponds, with a hill (more like a mound of dirt) that gave us shelter from the cold wind. we set up our tents and proceeded to settle in for the rest of the evening by the fire...

why is it that when we're out in places like that, life just seems right. It seems like it is close to the way God intended for life to be...perhaps a little more simple.

All in all, it was much needed. I thank the Lord for times like those in good places with great folks.

holiday...

clam chowder...oregon coast...golf...nachos...golf...family...golf...portland...more golf...salt water taffy...jimbo's...logie...rabboni...kia minivan?
well to those that know me, those words will mean something...and for those of you that don't know me, i'm not crazy.
I was on vacation, and I guess managed to vacation from writing here also. It was a beauty time away but it is good to be back home, and back into "blogdom" as my friend Randall calls it.
more later when I'm not on cold and flu drugs!
oh yeah, one more thing: drinking henry weinhards (sp?) rootbeer (which is delectable!) while you're driving in a van that doesn't have licence plates is not a good idea. that's what I learned this trip.

holla'?

so for all you folks of the elder variety that have trouble with slang terms like s'up (what is up), 'm whichu (I am with you), that's sick (that's awesome), that's gross (I really like that),
wicked (good)... I'm here to give you some encouragement!

I'm of this slang generation, and I've been trying to figure out this term my friends and those younger than me keep using...the term is "holla." see with all those other slang terms I listed before, they all either have the normal meaning in them already (just shortened), or they are cleverly the opposite of the what the websters dictionary describes them as.

but "holla?" what the frick does that mean? websters defines "holler" (which I'm assuming is where "holla" comes from) 1. to shout; yell. 2. a shout. I still fail to see how when someone says, "hey, I really think that coat you are wearing is sick..." (see I'm with this conversation until...) and the person with the coat says back, "Holla!"

did I miss something? you're friend just said your coat was awesome and you say "o.k., quick, go shout real loud noises..."

what happened to "thanks" (thank you).

So for those of you folks who are reading this that have never understood the slang of my generation...be encouraged because on this one, I am one of you.

riches or reputation...

"Choose a good reputation over great riches, for being held in high esteem is better than having silver or gold." -Solomon (Son of King David) as recorded in Proverbs 22:1

Now this comment wouldn't hold any weight of significance if it was written by a guy like me who did not have great riches. Fact is though, the guy that wrote this was the richest man who ever lived! It must be significant.
Oh, how I chase wealth here on earth sometimes... but alas' what a useless endeavor in the scope of eternity.
As I read scripture, as I more learn about the heart of God, the less I desire the riches this world has to offer...the less I desire to be held in high esteem by the world because of my earthly possessions...and all the more do I desire to be held in high esteem by my Creator, all the more do I desire to have a reputation of being a follower of this Jesus Christ I read about in scripture and feel deep in the core of my being.
Scripture reminded me, again, of what is important in life.

"In every victory, let it be said of me; my source of strength, my source of hope...is Christ alone." -Brian Littrell

the new family...?

so remember when t.v. shows like "family ties," "full house," and "family matters" were airing on pre-prime/prime time television in the evenings? I can't say they were really emmy-winning material by any stretch of the imagination, but they always kind of gave you those warm fuzzy feelings inside. I mean, all the family shows portrayed the families having some kind of adversity to push through each episode, but it always seemed to "get better" by the end of the thirty minutes. Now, I am not here trying to argue that these shows were an honest, accurate, depiction of how the family actually operates, I just was caught by something this week...
Now I don't know if I've just been out of the t.v. loop for too long, but it seems that MTV is starting to create their own shows about families... I watched an episode of "House of Carters" or whatever the frick it's called...holy crap, talk about a different portrayal of family in comparison to the "tanners" on full house.
Again, I'm not here to argue which type of show is better, the made up portrayal of a made up family like the shows used to be... or the raw, blunt, possibly played up(?) reality shows of "the new family..." (i.e. house of carters, Newlywed simpsons, the osbornes)
I have nothing else to say except to keep your hearts and minds in check while watching t.v. these days...I think a lot of us, and our families, ARE buggered up, but not all are...
Don't let MTV dictate how you're supposed to interact with people in life...keep yourself in check.

does spring cause emotional people...?

so I can't remember the last time I've had so many conversations with people about how they're so tired, or how they're kind of feeling down, or how there's not much to hope for these days.
I suppose I'm somewhat in the same boat as these people, so it could just be that I am only hearing those that resonate with what's going on in me.
I was talking to a friend last night about this, and we were saying how this is a funny season in Winnipeg...because spring is just within view, yet seems so far away when you have days like yesterday when it's still like -87C in the middle of March.
Do people role with the season's?
Does this odd season of spring just remind us of our longing for brighter days, our need for something/someone to hope in... Do we just need a new beginning?
It's coming folks

thoughts about mondays...

so I start work tomorrow (which is a monday) at 5:30am. I'm still not sure in my own mind if God is even awake before 5am, which is when I wake up on these kinds of work days...of course I'm kidding about that, but there seems to be something so wrong about working on mondays! maybe it's becasue I work for a church and so mondays are usually my one "weekend" day to just chill. Now that I have two jobs, I have had to adjust to this thing called the "monday morning blahs." Perhaps I've been too spoiled...I frigin' doubt it though.

oh, Friday nights...

so last night, which was friday night, I sat at home and read... I figure that means one of three things; 1. I've truly entered geekhood and it's fullness of time has come upon me on a friday night 2. My roommate Bruce tricked into a time warp, saying I was just getting into his lumina, and I am really my grandparents age without knowing it 3. I've been exhausted and needed to be away from the hussle and bussle of a friday night in your twenty's....
I'm going with number 2.

can't get away from love...

I've been thinking a lot lately about human needs. The first and foremost need that I can not deny is our seeking to love and be loved. I know you may be thinking, "I've heard this rant before" (If in fact anyone actually reads this thing, haha). Well for me, I constantly need to be reminded of it because I am ever caught in the middle of it.
Ravi Zacharias speaks of this love phenomenon saying, "Isn't it interesting how stories, whether old or new, sooner or later touch upon the them of loving and being loved?" (Recapture the Wonder, 109) I was thinking about this in my own life, and if I think hard enough about everything I do, I mostly do things either to do some loving or to be the one to be loved. I had to laugh when I was reading Donald Millers "Searching for God knows what" when he was talking about an interview he had with a local radio-station in Seattle. When the host asked him why he writes (essentially what inspires him) he replied, "I just really want to be liked" (later stating what he meant was "to be loved") The radio host backs away from the mic and says to him quietly, "you're not the only one."
The phenomenon of not being able to get away from love is one thing...but the phenomenon of how we search for love is quite another. Jesus made a bold statement to a lady who had been on a dead end search for love for quite some time. He said to her "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." (Jn. 4:10) Wisely, the thirsty lady decided to drink from living water, from wells that do not go dry.
Why is it then that we, who have tasted this water and know that the well of true love is everlating, so often forget the rich purity of a Creator's love and search for love in all the wrong places? Someone once told me that sin is trying to meet real needs through ways that grieve the heart of God. I have come to believe this to be true. Those of you doing the loving these days, imagine the slap in the face when your lover ignores that which you bestow on them and they search in (what you can clearly see as) all the wrong places.
Folks, we can't get away from love. And by grace, Love can not get away from us...

"This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us..." -1 Jn. 4:10

"The Peace of Wild Things"

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

-Wendell Berry

the way not to end work...

you know...I work for 8 hours, and I come out excited to go home, and I see a neat and tidy little envelope strapped down to my windshield by my wiper. Yes, it was one of those things created by the fall of man called a "parking ticket." And yes, it had it's way with me...Therefore, the moral of the story is you work your butt off for 8 hours and get about half that in pay by the end of the day because of a piece of paper. beautiful.

i'm either hip or...

So I've heard so much about this blogging, and read many blogs myself I either; thought they were incredibly hip and cool and desperately needed a shot of that in my own life, or saw them as an incredible chance to be heard. If I had to decide exactly which reason I started blogging today, I'm banking on the latter as it is another way to fulfill a massive human need; to be heard...to let people know a bit about their life in an attempt to feel important or accepted. Maybe it's just comforting to know that there is a place you can state whatever it is that is important to you on any given day. What a gift it is to be able to be honest and ask questions. It's humane.
My name is cody anderson, and I probably am not hip, but I am human.
Welcome to my blog.