Ryan Leech

Biker Ryan Leech is coming to Altona on Friday. Not sure what time but I'll let you know. You'll want to catch this. Check out what he can do... the part where he rides the chain is INSANE!!!! The 2nd video is rather mind blowing as well.

Grad Party

Wake boarding, knee boarding, tubing, food, and sun. That is what our grad party was on Saturday. It was so sweet to get away with our grads and spend a day relaxing and hanging out. There were seriously moments as I was sitting in the boat ripping around the lake where I had to ask myself, "Am I really getting paid for THIS!" It was such a blast! And just so you can all be jealous of the great time we had, here are some pics (and for the record, no I never did actually get up on the Wake board... next time)

Circle and 8th

Hey go and check 'em out! Circle and 8th!!!! Click here for some sweet tunes!

God On Mute (best book ever!)

I just finished reading Pete Greig's new book called God on Mute. Let me just say, if you don't know who Pete is and you haven't read any of his books you are missing out on one of the greatest authors in the market today. If you are a fan of the Rob Bell, Donald Miller style writing than his books are for you. But of all the stuff of his that I have read this one is the best. Actually I think I would go so far as to say that God on Mute is one of the best books I have ever read (and I do read a lot of books). And I would like to say, I'm not alone in this opinion. Brian McLaren says in the forward, "The book you are now holding is the most recent member of the B-List (there is no A-List. B in this case means, Best, Beautiful, Be-sure to recommend it to others." Elsewhere McLaren goes on to say, "Along with honesty, this is a book of theological depth. Pete draws from the Bible - not in a superficial proof-texty way, but reaching deeply and broadly into the Biblical texts, with a mature sensitivity to context. Not only that, but he draws deeply from his own circle of friends, and of course, he draws deeply from his own experience. One senses that, for all his honest confessions of doubts and confusion, this is a man who talks and listens to God, not just a man who speaks and writes books on how others should do it. Honest and deep. These qualities would be wonderful enough, but this book is also skillfully written.”

God on Mute is broken up into four parts
1) Maundy Thursday. How am I going to get through this?
2) Good Friday. Why aren't my prayers being answered?
3) Holy Saturday. Where is God when heaven is silent?
4) Easter Sunday. When Every prayer is answered!
Each section does an excellent job dealing with the problems and struggles that come from unanswered prayer.

On my part I have to say, I was blown away by his honesty and his willingness to deal with tough questions and face the doubts straight on. I don't know that I have ever read a book that is so honest, and adverse to pat and easy answers. So I say, if you are only going to read one book this entire year this is the one!

It's DONE!!!

Before
After

cha-cha-Changes

Take a good look at it!!! 'Cause tomorrow I start a couple days of holidays, and when I'm done the roof is gonna be a whole different color!!! Yup! Going to be a manly man this week and shingle my roof.

Pictures from the weekend

So here are some pictures from my time at Cedarwood


The Lodge... or at least part of it.










A view from on top of a big rock, looking over the camp













The View from the lodge

















During some of our free time we (Joel, Andrea,
and me) built some awesome forts out of pillows.

Me trying to fit into the awesome fort.

DONE!!!

Just a quick update to say, my actual speaking for the weekend is done. I did the last session at around 8:00pm and now I just get to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Should be good... only down side is I'll end up missing Dover..... Anyway, it was a great weekend. Thanks for all your prayers

At Cedarwood

Right now I'm maxin and relaxin in my speakers suite at Camp Cedarwood. I'm speaking at the Winkler EMMC Sr. Youth retreat. So far I just have a few things to say.
1) Camp Cedarwood is one of the most beautiful camps I have ever been to. The lodge is unbelievable!!! It is so plush, I just couldn't imagine being a camper (or staff here). I'd heard good things, but words just don't do it justice.
2) I am constantly amazed at how the Holy Spirit just comes in power and uses a broken vessel like me. I find this every time. Whether I am preaching or speaking or doing a Bible study, I always get so nervous before speaking. I go over my notes a million times I think, well it's ok, but not great. And then when it actually comes time to share it seems like the Holy Spirit just comes and takes over. I love it when God does that. He is just beyond anything I can think or say.
3) I like being the speaker. It's really sweet not having to organize stuff or worry about the schedule or anything. I just speak couple times and then it's up to me how I spend the rest of my time. It's actually really relaxing.
4) I miss Niki like crazy!!! She went to Saskatchewan on Wednesday so now it's been 4 days, and I am officially at the point where I want to see her so bad it actually makes me almost hurt.
Well I guess that's all for now from beautiful Cedarwood. Thanks to all of you who are praying I really know that they are making a difference.

No Opportunity Wasted

One of my youth leaders here in town is applying for the CBC reality show No Opportunity Wasted. It's a show where people take on their fears and see what can happen. Personally I think Dwight would be awesome for a show like this, I would watch every episode. Anyway one of the things he had to do was make a video of himself telling why he should be accepted. Well I would say this video shows all the reasons why!!!

Sex God

I just finished reading Rob Bell's new(ish) book Sex God. I have to say I was really impressed by it. There were a number of things that struck me, things that I had never thought of in that way before. Now I am a bit of a biased Rob Bell fan, I love his books and think he is uber smart. But seriously this book is unlike anything I have read before and it gets my two thumbs up (for what that's worth). If you want a real in depth review of it check out Ben Witherington's review (here). Or else just get it and read it, you won't be disappointed.

Bits

So for today I just have a few random things. On Sunday I had a nice relaxing afternoon, watching movies, NASCAR and playing with Photoshop. Here are a few of my creations.

on a different note. If you happen to watch any of those entertainment shows (like ET) You would have noticed all sorts of stuff about Oceans 13... in fact it becomes almost nauseating how much they talk about these things. I am so sick of entertainment "news" but that is a whole other post. Anyway, my point is, George and the gang seem very open to doing another movie in the future, my suggestion to them is quit now, before this happens (see movie)

A Bad haircut

So Niki and I took Lennox for his first haircut... he still hadn't lost his winter coat, and he was so hot in the warm weather that he would just lie around and not move that much. So we took a risk and took him to a person in town that was just starting out. Now the first problem, is that she thought that Lennox looked like a black lab, which he isn't. He is a Shepard mix, and really he looks like a black Golden Retriever. But this lady shaved the poor animal all over all the way. So he is no longer black (his skin showing through makes him look grey), no longer furry, and his shaved tail makes him look like a wet rat.... I honestly didn't even recognize him when I came home. He looks terrible!!!! It’s a good think Niki picked him up, because I can’t hide anything with my face. Now I know there is some good here. He has way more energy, he is happy and doesn't over heat like an old truck, we've noticed he is much more playful now than he was... but... yuck... he looks so... terrible... it's the only word I can think of. So does anyone know how long it takes for a dogs fur to grow back... PLEASE TELL ME IT ISN'T A LONG TIME!!! Anyway see for yourself (before and then after)

Finished IT!!!

Well I finally finished reading Satan and the Problem of Evil by Boyd. It was a rather long read, and it definitely expanded my vocabulary. It also really got me thinking on a level that very few books have. It really challenges some of the concepts that we have about God. It raises some good questions about how much God chooses to know, about evil in the world, and about how we deal with evil in nature. In particular I found it interesting how he points towards Satan and demons as a major reason for evil in the world. I think so often in our culture we aren't very comfortable with blaming a hurricane or tornado on evil spirits, it seems too much like we are falling back into the dark ages. After all science has told us what causes these things. But, science doesn't explain the reason why these things happen at all. And we all know (even if we aren't comfortable with the thought) that there is another kingdom that is at war with the kingdom of God. Anyway it's a big book, it's a tough book to read, but it is well worth it. I would highly recommend it to those who are looking for something deep, and thought provoking.

YIKES!!

Ok, so it's been a while... ooops by bad. There hasn't really been a lot going on though. Work and play, that about sums it up. On Saturday Niki and I went shopping. I got some sweet new threads... and tried on this hat, saw that my hair was disgusting, remembered what Scams says about my long hair and promptly walked into the hairdressers and got it cut. So now I look really nice and stylish. Yesterday was a very nice day off, I quite enjoyed it. My highlight was for sure washing Lennox (an adventure in itself) and then sitting outside on our step with Niki watching Lennox dry himself. There was just a peace and a calm about it. Sitting outside, warm watching our dog play in the grass... it was one of those moments that makes you say, yes.... this is perfect.
Oh yeah! On Sunday night I went and saw some of my youth/former youth play a show at the station, that was really awesome, if you weren't there you really missed out. (thanks to Ryan for the pics)

They Like Jesus but not the Church

Here's an interesting video from Chicago where random people are asked to give their views on Jesus and Christians. Sort of a difficult video to watch, and yet inspires me to make sure people see something different in me.

ht Dan Kimball

Atheists Debate Part II

So the debate was last night... all said I wasn't too surprised. One of the most painful moments was when Brian Sapient and his partner Kelly totally destroyed the argument that Kirk and Ray had put forward. When the moderator asked Kirk or Ray if they had anything to say there was a very long awkward silence, and then they said, "No, we think people can figure it out." I was sitting there going WHAT!!!! They totally destroyed or at least seriously wounded the entire premise of your argument, and you don't do anything, or try and refute it!?? The other problem was that Kirk and Ray completely failed to do what they had set out to do. They said that they would prove completely scientifically without faith or the Bible that God existed, and they certainly didn’t do that. At the end of the day it wasn't much of a debate, I would say from all I've seen Kirk and Ray got hammered, but Brian and Kelly weren't exactly stellar either (in my opinion), and some of their “facts” weren’t fact at all. But perhaps the person who got the roughest time out of it was Ted Haggard (I'm not sure why he was mentioned so often, but I guess Brian and Kelly thought it was relevant).
I thought that the best part of the whole thing was when the moderator said at the end (My paraphrase), “Maybe it isn't about winning or losing, but just about opening the floor for discussion.” My feeling on the whole thing, is debates don't work, trying to defend your point of view will rarely win people to your side of any argument. But relationships and discussion… now we are moving in the right direction. So maybe in the end the whole thing wasn't so bad, because at least it opened up some discussion, and has people talking. See for yourself, watch here or go to YouTube and search Face-Off Does God Exist there are like 6 parts there.

Atheist Debate

I don't know how much you've heard about the ABC Nightline debate that is coming up. But here's the run down, Actor Kirk Cameron and another Christian are going to debate with two Atheists about God, creation, and the rest of that. It's interesting, but I've noticed a lot about Atheism in the media the last little while. Maybe it has to do with Richard Dawkins' book the God Delusion.
Anyway I was up early this morning and I watched Richard Dawkins and George Stroumboulopoulos on the Hour. So after watching that (click here to see it) I'm really hoping that Kirk and his Christian buddy do better than what they did before (see video).

Now I am all for conversation and there can even be a place for all out debate (all though I think this sounds like ABC is going for a ratings grab). But I really would feel better about this if they had some of the right people there. I have this sinking feelings that this could be a real gong show. That banana logic is more than a little thin.

Sunday

Well to be honest the adventure started on Saturday. Saturday morning I woke up with my eyes caked shut. No big deal right!? I mean who doesn't have I gunk in their eyes from time to time. But as the morning went on my eyes got worse and worse. Soon they were sore, puffy, and oozing snot... yellow guck that looked a lot like yellow boogers... disgusting. To make things worse, my vision was blurry and I couldn't see things that well. Yuppers, eye infection, in both eyes. Now normally this is no big deal.... I mean hey, it's a rainy day, I get to lie on the couch and my wife gets to take care of me... sweet deal. Except. I had to preach the next day. So Niki went and bought some eye drops and we promptly doubled the recommended dosage. On Sunday morning I woke up, eyes still a little crusty and very red and puffy, but MUCH better. So I was able to at least see my notes. People in the church were very kind. True there were a lot of comments like "You look terrible." "You looked hung over." And from those with a little more experience in the world, "You look like you're stoned." I knew I was in trouble when people at the back of the sanctuary are staring at me trying to figure out what's wrong. One of our youth just stared at me in foyer, until I said, “It’s ok! I know my eyes are super red and puffy!” Anyway, I explained to the church what was up, and then told them that I wasn't going to be shaking hands with them, because I had it on good authority that this is very contagious (hopefully Niki doesn't get it now). Anyway on top of that, on Sunday morning I had the beginnings of a cold, and an upset stomach. Not my favorite way to feel before preaching. Just before I went to speak for 2nd service, I remember praying, "God you're going to have to get me through this without falling down." Church finished and I went home and spent the rest of the day on the couch. I find it just amazing how God strengthens us in our weakness. As much as I hate being sick, and feeling weak, I do love to see how God uses that.

On another note, Kyle Busch came in 2nd at Richmond, so that is always a good time!!!

Camp Arnes

ALRIGHT!!!! BACK FROM CAMP ARNES!!!!! Man what a sweet Jr. Youth retreat! There is nothing like getting away with 35 grade 7 and 8's for a rockin weekend. Some of the highlights were, late night games involving glow sticks and water guns, Spew, our speaker Dan, when the van broke down on the way home and had to be towed back ,and swimming in the lake... and yes... that is still all ice on the water. It was a great time and I really believe God spoke to a lot of youth... which is the whole reason we go! good times....