Heat

Today. Walked down the street to watch the Packers/Rams game. Felt like I was out on the hottest day of the year (36ish?) WITH the heat on in your car, with the fan on full blast. Yeah. So very hot. I was melting. Melting.

Prayer Request

A family back in Brockville is grieving the loss of their newborn baby. Some of the family I know well. Please pray for them as they deal with their loss. The parents names are Tim & Danielle. Thank you.

Brief Update

Friday – Went to Crossfire, which is St.Paul’s youth ministry. Met some of the lads I’ll be hangin with at Impackt (their youth camp). So many kids. So many names. One me. But it was good. The leader of the student ministries here is gifted at leader development. It is very obvious. There is much to be learned here.

Saturday – Was ridiculously hot. Didn’t do much at all. In the evening we went to a 21st birthday party. 21 is like a right of passage here. Big party. Speeches. Presents. The whole deal. It was cool. We don’t seem to celebrate, or have the same kind of emphasis on rights of passage back home.

Sunday – Slept in. Went to Impackt meeting for 3 hours. They fed us well, so I made it through ok. Had a BBQ. Didn’t try the baby octopus or Kangaroo dogs. Maybe next time. Far too hot again. Must have been mid to high 30’s. Went to evening service. Played some Ultimate Elimination Bruce. It made a huge first international splash. Permission was granted from 2 council members (which having thought about it is a good thing we implemented this rule…It keeps the basic fundamentals of the game universal…) I finished the game in top spot…but the Aussies voted against me due to the experience factor…plus I also learned that they “love the underdog”. In the end Jenna won, who single handedly elimnated 5 of the six people via rock, paper, scissors. She was amazing and deserved to win.

Now you’re caught up.

Risky Curiosity

Risk, as we have seen, is indispensable to any significant life, nowhere more clearly than in the life of the spirit. The goal of faith is not to create a set of immutable, rationalized, precisely defined and defendable beliefs to preserve forever. It is to recover a relationship with God. Dangerous Wonder, pg.33

C.S. Lewis described Aslan, the Christ figure in the Chronicles Of Narnia, as a “not so tame lion.” The reason so many of us have lost our childhood curiosity is that we’ve been tamed. Our world is populated with domesticated grownups who would rather settle for safe, predictable answers instead of wild, unpredictable mystery. Faith has been reduced to a comfortable system of beliefs about God instead of an uncomfortable encounter with God. Childlike faith understands that God is as capable of destroying us as He is of saving us. Risky curiosity breaks from the safety and comfort of a tame faith and ventures into the presence of a “not so tame” God. Dangerous Wonder, pg.35-36

Can you see where this kind of thinking is dangerous? Can you see where people who think like this run into problems? We spend so much time and energy making church a “comfortable”, “safe”, “visitor firendly”, and “nice” place. But by doing that are we not helping people settle for a safe, comfortable, nice faith? We carefully craft events and services so they are predictable…so we don’t surprise anyone…so they don’t feel uncomfortable. Can we afford to do this? Can we afford to settle into a faith that can be explained…where nothing out of the ordinary happens? Why would we want that? Why add something like this to our lives? Does this change our life? Or steal it?

Some Good Finds & The Best Sport On The Planet

Watched some “elite” summer league hockey this evening with Brad (from the Bible Study group). It’s decent hockey. I wasn’t sure to expect…but it is pretty good. And this is only the warm-up for the winter league. They play 4×12 minute periods, touch icing, and no red line. In the winter league they also play body contact. Sucks that I didn’t bring more than my skates. But I had no where to put anything else. I am hoping to score some gloves and a helmet second hand, and maybe do the pick up Sunday morning thing they have. 10$ for 2 hours of shinny. Should be fun.

While surfing…the net…today I found a couple gems. Here they are:

The Nietzche Channel – online versions of some of his writings, and poems and songs he wrote in Mp3 format to download.
Pedro The Lion – An entire live concert playlist for download.

Dangerous Wonder

From the book, “Dangerous Wonder“, by Mike Yaconelli.

The critical issue today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn’t change people into wild-eyed radcials anymore, He changes them into “nice people.” If Christianity is simply about being nice, I’m not interested.page.23

I’m ready for a Christianity that “ruins” my life, that captures my heart and makes me uncomfortable. I want to be filled with astonishment which is so captivating that I am considered wild and unpredictable and…well…dangerous.page. 24

Took some time today to read and listen. Trying to come to grips with my lack of security, and I think I am ok with it. I don’t want to get back into the same groove as before. I don’t want to live to work. I want to live. I started some creative dreaming and thinking this afternoon. What are things that want to achieve in life? What do I want to do wthi this life? Things that seem impossible. Things that seem unreasonable. Unrealistic. Idealistic. I have apologized…used as an excuse…or tried to explain my idealism. Why? Do I, or do I not believe in a God who does the miraculous? Do I not believe that He is capable of anything? Then why shouldn’t I dream? Why not refuse to settle? Why give up the dreams so that I can feel safer…so that I will KNOW that bills will be getting paid…so I KNOW where money for food is coming from…so I won’t have to trust again. So I won’t have to rely on God for anything? Yeah…been there too many times. Too easy to grab control back. Too easy to drift into a mind numbing, spirit deadening, exhausting existence. I don’t want that. Again. Ever.

I am beginning to hear God’s voice again, and it is saying,

“Dream with me. Change with me. Be uncomfortable. Live.”

News From The General Vicinity

Here’s a shark story for you. No, it wasn’t Australia, it was New Zealand. Not the same place. But in the same waters. Read it here. So I guess if I want to go surfing, I first need to purchase some dolphines. I wonder if I can find them on the black market?

Calling Pepsi Drinkers Of The World

Is this really a good idea? I mean, haven’t you perverted your beverage of choice enough? I prefer Pepsi over Coke…I liked Pepsi Twist but come on people.

From cell to bells, 10 Things the Chinese do far better than we (Canadians) do

via Metafilter

0 goals, 1 assist

Today I got to freelance a bit on a video shoot. Tim started his business last year, and is a quality guy. He is also Chris’s brother-in-law (Chris being the chap I am staying with, whom I went to college with, and with whom I am friends…just to clear that up.)

Way too much fun. We are working some more on Thursday. Basically, I was the light guy (mr. I hold the relfector), the boom mic guy, and the guy who guarded and pushed the cart with the equipment on it. It was still way too much fun. Lots to learn and I am grateful for an opportunity to learn about something I love doing. The Zion Hill Camp Video will never be the same…just you wait.

Jet lag is much better. I was still up at 7am, but that’s much improved from 4am. I also got a bank account. Not too much craziness. Yet.

I realized something about myself on Sunday. I don’t have anything that I am stellar at. I dabble in too many things and have not perfected any one of them. I enjoy “dabbling” in web design (I am almost done reworking this blog a bit just for fun), video/photography and music. I love playing sports…almost all sports…I am basically a large obstacle when playing basketball but whatever, I’ll take what I can. I think it’s time I decided to take one of these things and decide to get proficient in it, to see if I can…to see if I really want to. I need to focus in on one thing…maybe two…and stop spreading myself out over the variety. Maybe that will help me decide what I want to do. Will that focus my time and energy? Is is bad to be mediocre at a bunch of things, and not great at anything? Is it bad to only be good at one thing? I heard someone say about Olympic athletes, that they admired them because they were champions. That they had taken one thing and became the best at it. Devoted their lives to it, and perfected it. Are we destined to be champions? Or is that too narrow minded? Don’t you want to be a champion in something? Are we already, but don’t know it? Questions, questions.