John Mayer

So I don't have a lot of time, in fact I've been running all day, and will continue to run until late Sunday Afternoon when I will finally crash, and finish watching the NASCAR race, but until then there is only one thing on my mind, CAMP ARNES!!! Well that and the incredible concert I was at last night with my smokin’ hot wife!!! We went and saw John Mayer last night... well saw might be a bit of an exaggeration... We were about as far away as humanly possible... but still, it was so sweet! All I can say is WOW! He can shred the guitar! And it was soooo smooth. It really inspired me to save up and go guitar shopping, I think I need a sweet electric like that. It was by far one of the best concerts I have ever been too. So, if you have the chance... I recommend catching him somewhere.

Bye Bye Flames, Hello Vancouver

Well the Flames are done... after a less than stellar performance, it is sort of nice that I can now jump ship with a clean conscience... Go Canucks go!!! Anyway Maybe Kiprusoff should try to become a two sport man like, Clark, the Canadian Hockey Goalie (ht D'Caffeinated Pickle)

Youth Ministry in the 80's

So I have this large series from Youth Specialties called "Ideas" and it is exactly what it sounds like. 49 books full of ideas for youth ministry. There are games, skits, bible studies. You name it, it is here. But the best part of this series is that it is from the 80's, So it is hilarious to look at some of the things they suggest. You look at some of the ideas and say, "WOW!!! There is NO WAY I could get away with that now!"

For example From Ideas 13-16 Page 13 "FLOUR POWER"
"Select three girls and three boys for this event. The guys are sent out of the room. While they are out, one girl gets a mouthful of flour. One of the boys are brought in and told to try and guess each girl's favorite flower. If he is correct, he wins a kiss from that girl. Of course, whatever he guesses for the girl with the flour in her mouth is correct. She starts to kiss him, but instead spits flour all over his face. Do the same with the next two guys." Really??? I can just imagine this scene a few weeks later, "So Jon when was your first kiss?" "Oh, well it was at this youth retreat, and my youth pastor made me kiss these two girls, and then a third one was going to kiss me, but then she spit flour in my face instead." ... Like I said, I just can't imagine doing something like that today. Actually let me clarify… earlier I said I can’t imagine getting away with it… what I really meant was, this is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Not only would I not want to get away with it, I wouldn’t even think of trying something like that…. However there are some other ideas that are super awesome… just highly unsafe… I came across a super sweet game though, and I would to love to play it, but safety would be a factor.

The basic premise, is one guy goes out and hides with a lit candle. You arm all your kids with a water gun, and a unlit candle. They then try and find the guy with fire, light their candles and sneak back to HQ without all the other kids squirting out their candle. What an awesome night game!!! But I can just imagine all the things that could go wrong... candle's in the face, hair on fire, all the brush around the camp on fire... yeah so I don't think we'll play this game with fire... but man that must have been sweet!
Anyway back to hunting down games for the weekend, any suggestions?

Youth Last Night

So last night was our parent and youth night at the Hub. And man did we have fun!!!! Now before the evening began there were a lot of youth who were saying that there was NO WAY, their parents were going to get in on the fun and games... well let's just say there were a lot of shocked kids! We had a guest speaker come out and talk about his 7 day transrockies race that he and his son did and the lessons that they learnt from that experience. It was really cool. And to go with the whole biking theme we did some relays on Tricycles outside in the mall parking lot. There were actually quite a few people who would stop and look at these crazy people cheering and racing back and forth across the parking lot. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures. For more head over to our Flickr site. All in all I would say the night was a great success and we’ll have to do something like it again soon.

Nickel Creek

So there is this band I've been hearing about a lot lately from some friends of mine called Nickel Creek. They were one of those bands that your friends rave about, but you never remember to go and check out... well anyway thanks to Jon, I found their link and checked them out on myspace. All I can say is AWESOME!! I'm not normally a bluegrass kinda guy, but wow! Go over to their myspace and listen to couple songs. Two of my fav's are Their cover of Britney Spears (she could never sound that good) and their song "Doubting Thomas" I'm not sure where these guys are with their walk with God, but there is some awesome stuff in these lyrics, check it out...

"DOUBTING THOMAS - by Nickel Creek"

What will be left when I've drawn my last breath,
Besides the folks I've met and the folks who know me,
Will I discover a soul saving love,
Or just the dirt above and below me,

I'm a doubting thomas,
I took a promise,
But I do not feel safe,
Oh me of little faith,

Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face,
Then I beg to be spared 'cause I'm a coward,
If there's a master of death I'll bet he's holding his breath,
As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power,
I'm a doubting thomas,
I can't keep my promises,
'Cause i don't know what's safe,
oh me of little faith

Can I be used to help others find truth,
When I'm scared I'll find proof that its a lie,
Can I be lead down a trail dropping bread crumbs,
That prove I'm not ready to die,

Please give me time to decipher the signs,
Please forgive me for time that I've wasted,

I'm a doubting thomas,
I'll take your promise,
Though I know nothin's safe,
Oh me of little faith

Some Pics

So a couple weeks ago I got two new pairs of glasses, so I thought it was about time to put some pictures of them on. I got my dark "Rob Bell" glasses (as I like to call them). I figure it's a good idea to try and follow in the steps of such a brilliant guy. Then my other pair are more... normal? Sure that works. Well all I know is that I'm looking forward to looking back on these beautiful glasses in 15 years and going, "YUCK!! I can't believe I wore those and thought I was cool!" Oh fashion, how you make us all look like dweebs... speaking of being a dweeb, let's not make any comments on the cheesy myspaceish poses ...

I also have a few pics of when my parents were out with their dog, so it's Lennox and Sheila running and playing on their walk.

Spring Duds

So spring is here, you can feel it in the air. All you need to do is look at Lennox and see his eagerness to be outside in the sun to know that the nice weather is here. If we leave the door open even for a second he squeezes his way past and he's gone, running around on the grass. It's so nice. Well we all know that with spring comes spring shopping. So if it's time for you to pick up some new threads why not check out Randomshirts for some nice shirts, that make a difference in our world. Here are some of my favs.

Fun stuff on a Friday

For something fun do this.
1. go to www.google.ca
2. click on “maps”
3. click on “get directions”
4. type “New York” in the first box (the “from” box)
5. type “London” in the second box (the “to” box)
6. scroll down to step #23
(ht to Marko)

"I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices."

A while ago I felt like it was time to reread through all the gospels. I tend to spend most of my time reading in Mark (a personal fav) but I thought it was time to get the whole perspective on the story of Christ again. So the other day I read this cool verse from Matthew 9. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, 'cause they are trippin’ that Jesus would hang out with the likes of Matthew and as they like to label them "scum." So Jesus throws out this response. He says in verse 13 "Then he added, 'Now go and learn the meaning of this scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices (Hosea 6:6).' For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough." So this struck me, and I thought it was a cool verse. Jesus is quoting Hosea 6:6 so I went back and read through the whole chapter to see the context of the passage Jesus is quoting. Well today I was reading Matthew 12 and Jesus is back in hot water with the Pharisees because the disciples are grabbing handfuls of grain and eating it on the Sabbath (has anyone ever thought about how gross that would be to eat? Mmmm raw grain, yummy! I think I'd rather go hungry... ANYWAY) Jesus looks at the Pharisees and says, "But you would not have condemned those who aren't guilty if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: 'I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices." So I'm reading and I go 'huh? I think I've heard this before. So I'm thinking that if Jesus is repeating himself, He probably thinks that this is a pretty important thing. The whole part of Hosea 6:6 says, "I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings." So here is Jesus repeating that what He is looking for, what He wants us to be doing, be merciful, and know God. He’s not interested in empty ritual, he is interested in people. Not always the easiest thing in the world to do, but a good challenge as we go about our days, so let us be merciful, and not fall into the trap of thinking we are already good enough.

This Morning

So this morning I got the pleasure of hearing Tony Campolo in Winkler. He was doing a Youth Workers breakfast/session. This is now the third time I have heard him, and i have to say, he is so amazing! I love to hear his insights into our culture and into the world we live in. He had many good things to say, some that were super funny, and others that were very profound. Essentially though he said there are three issues that need to be dealt with in Youth Ministry.

1) That our Youth know the REAL Jesus.
Bernard Shaw said, "God made us in His image, and we turned around and returned the favor." It is important for us to take a careful look at the Jesus we worship, and make sure that we are actually worshiping Him, and not what we would like Him to be like. Perhaps obviously to us, is the United States and their blend of Patriotism and God. However, we aren’t free from turning God into our image either it just manifests itself differently in Manitoba
2) Youth need to have faith that there are great things in life.
Essentially he says, our youth need more than what society tells us is important. i.e. Get married, live a good life, make money, and keep your nose clean. These are good, but it isn't enough. To me this brings back the whole discussion of 300, the idea that these men buck society, and live for something greater than themselves.. It isn't enough just to make money and have a good life. We need a cause that can move us to die, it is what we all really want. It is also important to remember that what is in our past DOES NOT define who we will be. Campolo points towards those who survived the concentration camps during WWII. The only thing that those people had in common was that they hoped for the future, and had things they wanted to accomplish. It is interesting that there are more Nobel Peace prize winners that survived the concentration camps than any other group of people. We need something great to live for.
3) Sexuality
This is obviously an issue that we need to talk about. How do we teach our youth about sexuality in a healthy way. Campolo talked about those chastity pledge cards that a lot of teens in the states sign. The problem with those is that teens who sign them are 10 times more likely to engage in oral sex. Campolo also suggested that we as a church need to teach our young people how to break up lovingly. Often break ups are incredibly painful, and are made more painful, because we don't know how to do it. So sex is a big issue that needs to be dealt with.

So like I said, it was awesome, and there was lots of brain food and laughs. And as usual after hearing him speak I wonder if I should sell everything I own and go and live in the slums somewhere. I guess I still have to wrestle with this whole materialism thing.