The grass is green and growing

Well, thankfully the snow didn't hang around and I was able to get back to the yard work. Yes, the lawn actually needed cutting.

But to be honest, I also had to try out the new mower. I traded the one I had purchased last fall in on a new self propelled model. The old one was a good machine with a 6.5 horse Briggs and Straton motor, but it seemed a little heavy, and the hills in the to yard just proved too much for the regular push job!

So the new one is orange. And yes, Don, it is a Husqvarna, a 5521BBC with a Honda motor to be exact. Variable speed rear wheel drive, blade brake (so you can turn off the cutting blade but still walk the machine), single leaver multi-wheel height adjustment, and of course option to mulch, side discharge, or rear bag. We take lawn mowing very seriously.

It better quit snowing, 'cause I need to mow my lawn

Hmph. It's after Easter on Vancouver Island. This isn't supposed to happen. ANYTIME! Let alone "spring". Yesch, give me a break. I have yard work to do!

A Pentecostal, an atheist, an Anglican and Buddhist went to heaven...

Here is a great article from the Vancouver Sun ~ The great beyond: A dialogue on Heaven . My friend Pastor Karen Reed, who is on staff at Broadway Church participated in a panel discussion that explored questions about whether heaven exists, whether it's a metaphor, whether it's a place, whether it's in the mind, how one gets there, different ways to interpret scriptures, and whether it is more important to create a heaven in this life than to yearn for an afterlife. It's good stuff. Way to go Karen! You're my hero!

Nanaimo is the Capital of Google Earth!

Have you heard the news? The city of Nanaimo has mapped nearly every conceivable thing using Google Earth and Google Maps, according to Michael Jones, Google Earth's chief technology officer. We have more information about our city than the people of San Francisco.
You can read the TIME article here, or check it out for yourself at earth.nanaimo.ca. There is actually a great hi-rez picture of our house, even though it is about 2 years old, which was before we moved in and before I planted our lawn (which by the way, is growing and will need mowing soon!)

Preachers should pause...

A a preacher I've been aware of the huge communication shift that is going on in our contemporary (read 'postmodern') culture. It should have tremendous influence on how guys and gals like me present, er...preach. I know I am challenged by this, and struggling with it.

Here's an interesting take from Christine Persaud's blog MarketnewsGadgetTalk that underscores the interactive path media providers are exploring. It's not new news, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Early Easter Trivia

With Easter very early this year, coming on March 23, I found this interesting. You may have seen it already.

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st Full Moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20th.) This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier, falling on March 22nd, but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives. Only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early before - only those 95 years old or more! None of us have ever, or will ever, see it any earlier than it is this year. (And all the music pastors said 'AMEN!')

Here are the facts:

1). The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was in 1913, so if you are 95 years old or older, you are the only ones who were around for that!

2). The next time Easter will fall on March 22nd will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22nd was in 1818. So, no one alive today has ever seen or will ever see it any earlier than it is this year!

Nanaimo is Canada's 18th most dangerous city

Maclean's has come up with a list of the most dangerous cities in Canada (pop. 50,000 or more) based on 2006 per capita crime rates. The study took into account six types of crimes: murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault, robbery, breaking and entering, and auto theft.

Nanaimo came in 18th worst. Surprsingly, Regina tops the list (keep your head down, Dustin!), although it was in a virtual dead heat with Saskatoon and Winnipeg. Only one eastern city, Halifax, made the top 10. Five of the top 10 cities are in B.C., although Vancouver comes in at a surprisingly low No. 9. The others are Prince George (4), New Westminster (6), Chilliwack (7) and Victoria (8).

According to Maclean's, the break-and-enter rates in Chilliwack and Victoria would put them among the top 10 per cent of all American cities.

If You Die, I'll Kill You!

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.

Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma.

"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he said.

Is Facebook Over?

Okay, maybe I'm just old, but I have to admit, I'm bored with Facebook. Actually, I never really got too excited about it in the first place. Chris Sorensen, Business Reporter for the Toronto Star has got a good take. Check out his article Has Facebook fatigue arrived? where he says that some of the social network's 67 million users are bored. But if growth is slowing among older people, the website is essential for those aged 12 to 34, who find that without Facebook, 'you're not in the loop'

Reveal: Where Are You?

I just picked up Reveal: Where Are You?, the Willow Creek publication by Greg Hawkins and Cally Parkinson that articulates what has been dubbed ‘Bill Hybels’ Confession’. Some have used this to attack the seeker church model that Hybels pioneered, but it really has nothing to do with sin, as some would like to make it out to be. Some of you have been asking me about it, so here is a summary.

Based on a significant scientific research project (which was interesting as Aileen is currently taking a research course the deals with qualitative and quantitative research methods) done at Willow Creek from 2004-2007, the research team discovered that their church was not doing as well as they had thought when it came to spiritual growth. Not only where they brave enough to ask the hard questions, but they were brave enough to share their findings with the world. Hardly scandalous!

The questions the project raised and observations they made have revolutionized the way they look at the role of the local church. They say the church and its myriad of programs has taken on too much of the responsibility for people’s spiritual growth, which they define as ‘an increasing love for God and for other people’. I love their definition. Their findings certainly clarify some of the issues I’ve had in the back of my mind as I have thought about the church and its role over the past years.

Willow Creek made six key discoveries based on their data:
1. Involvement in church activities does not predict or drive long-term spiritual growth. A higher level of church activity does not correlate directly to an increasing love for God or increasing love for people. Church busyness is not next to godliness.

2. Spiritual growth is all about increasing relational closeness to Christ. God has wired us to be in a growing relationship with him – not with the church. There is a passionate instinct born in all of us that desires to draw closer to God. As we draw closer, we begin to see a dramatic change in how we live our lives and relate to other people.

3. The church is most important in the early stages of spiritual growth. Its role then shifts from being the primary influence to a secondary influence. As one matures in Christ, the importance of services and small groups for spiritual development decreases. The church’s role becomes more a platform to provide serving opportunities. This makes a lot of sense, because as the mature believes step into a serving role, they minister to the new believers who need this to jump-start their spiritual lives, so both groups are in a place where they can experience profound spiritual growth.

4. Personal spiritual practices such as prayer, journaling, solitude, and scripture study are the building blocks for a Christ-centered life. They are the driving force in spiritual growth, so the church doesn’t need to handhold people who are moving along in the later stages of the spiritual continuum.

5. A church’s most active evangelists, volunteers, and donors come from the most spiritually advanced segments. The more one grows, the more one serves, tithes, and evangelizes. This surprised Willow Creek because their assumption was that new believes, with their passion for faith and relationships with people who where not Christ followers, had the highest evangelistic fervor.

6. More than 25 percent of those surveyed described themselves as spiritually “stalled” or “dissatisfied” with the role of the church in their spiritual growth. (Many of these people are considering leaving their church – which for a church as good as Willow Creek is frightening – I mean, if Willow can’t keep people coming, who can?)

Stalled people are those who consider themselves close to Christ, but haven’t grown in their spiritual life. They are Christians who have run into difficult life circumstances or come face-to-face with a personal weakness (addiction, inappropriate relationship, emotional issue) that has become a significant barrier to spiritual growth. Dissatisfied people see their faith as central to their lives, but feel their church is letting them down. Essentially, they have a high level of expectation for what the church can and should deliver, but have become jaded, cynical, and disillusioned.

Considering these observations, and looking specifically at the Stalled and Dissatisfied segments of their survey group led the research team to the big “aha” moment of the project. The data indicated that both the Dissatisfied and the Stalled portions still look almost exclusively to the church to lead their spiritual growth. They tend to voice complaints about the need for more in-depth teaching, more connection opportunities, more serving options and more of everything they feel is missing from their church experience. But the heart of their unhappiness may be the fact that neither segment seems to realize that much of the responsibility for their spiritual growth belongs to them. Obviously this isn't strictly their fault. The church has had something to do with it!

After taking over two years so assimilate the data, they are making three strategic changes to their vision:
1. Change the message to the congregation. It is not the role of the church to meet everyone’s spiritual needs. They want to move people from dependence on the church to a growing interdependent partnership with the church and see people take an increasing level of responsibility for feeding themselves through personal spiritual practices.
2. Coach next steps. They want to transition the role of the church from spiritual parent to spiritual coach. They are working on a tool that will assist them as a church to help people discern what is the next step they need to take in their spiritual development. It will be interesting to see what this looks likes.
3. Extend the impact of their weekend services. Focus more attention on those who are further along the spiritual continuum by providing tools like journals, study questions, and commentary notes that themed with the message to assist people digging into scripture for themselves. I imagine that this is a big shift for the mother of the seeker sensitive church.

To Ponder...

DREAMS

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

~ Langston Hughes

Settlers Solution

Tired of chasing all your Settlers paraphenalia through multiple game boxes and numerous expansion packs? Then mosey on down the your local Walmart sporting goods department and pick up some tackle boxes. The top one is thinner with lots of little compartments for all the little stuff, plus enough room to sqeeze in those big boarder pieces, and the lower one is thick enough to take the hexs and cards and even the Cities and Knights chart thingys. After a few weeks of testing the devices, I'm please to say it works like a charm. Settin' up is easy, and clean up's a breeze. And for 'bout $5 a shot, the tight-wads won't even do too much sqeakin'.

I Love the West Coast!

Most of Canada under winter weather warnings
Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, February 13, 2008OTTAWA — Environment Canada issued weather warnings for all parts of Canada Wednesday except B.C., Yukon, and southern Ontario.

• Toronto residents woke up Wednesday morning with 10 cm to 20 cm of snow...


• Residents in New Brunswick are expected to be hit with a mixture of snow and ice pellets, anywhere from 10 cm to 20 cm. “This is shaping up to be a really big event for Atlantic Canada.”


• The prairies are experiencing a bitter cold snap. Heavy snowfall warnings were issued for portions of southeastern Alberta, where winds are combining with snow and generating blizzard conditions.


• Blizzard conditions are also affecting residents across Saskatchewan, where officials are warning people to stay off the roads.


• Environment Canada issued a number of warnings for southern Manitoba where blowing snow and high winds are creating dangerous wind chill values. “Winds of 10 to 15 km/h are producing wind chills of minus 50.”


• Wind chill warnings and blizzard conditions are also listed for parts of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

Nanaimo Weather Current Conditions

7 °C Observed at: Nanaimo Airport
Date: 11:00 AM PST Wednesday 13 February 2008
Condition: Sunny
Forcast: High of 9 °C

Missional

I came across a great definition of missional in an article by Rob Lindeman in and old copy of the Pentecostal Testimony (July, 2006). Food for New Year's thought.

He says “The word missional has been around for about a hundred years. Missional is an adjective that describes the way in which we do all of our activities, rather than identifying any one particular activity. For Christians, to be missional means to align all of the functions and activities of our lives around the mission of God in the world.”

12 Days Of Christmas

Here's a YouTube clip worth watching! The original members of Straight No Chaser perform their comedic vrsion of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" at the Musical Arts Center, Bloomington, Indiana.

Opening Night

Yeah, it's 'Tree Time' again! After 8 months of preperation and 3 months of rehearsals, it was show time. By all accounts, opening night went very well. The best blooper was when Sir Julius crashed his giant tricycle into the people in the first row, namely Pastor Les. It was great! Oops. Thanfully no one was seriously hurt. And we did have a sound track problem that hopefully will never happen again ~ it's very annoying when the music gets stuck halfway through the introduction!

1 performance down, 9 to go.

Christmas time is near...

It's not as romantic as it looks. 20cm of wet cement in 12 hours. At least I had my fair share of shoveling this fall to get in shape for it. Now we'll see if we can get to church tomorrow ~ and if anyone else will show up! Thankfully this was not a 'Tree' weekend!
The view across the valley:

My New Hobby

'Tis the Season...almost

Okay, maybe I'm rushing things abit, but seeing as I've been working Christmas since April it seems about time! Besides, it wasn't raining this morning, so you have to make hay while the sun shines. Actually, the sun wasn't shining either... But we'll see it soon. Maybe in May.

Getting the lights up are actually a HUGE moral victory. I had lights up and down about four times last year before I finally gave up in disgust. First it was the stupid light clips that were a total joke, then it was stupid light strings that either didn't work, broke whenever you touched them, or were pink, white, or purple when they were supposed to be red. Hmmph. So this year, Santa is happy, and my girls are very impressed with Dad.

By the way...notice the grass? Day 57.

Lumber Jacks

Yes, we have real, live lumber jacks out here in BC. I heard the chain saws buzzing and was surprised to see them trimming up a huge tree in the school yard above our house. He lopped off the lower branches on his way up, and I guess they are going to take the tree down. It may have been damaged in the huge wind storm Sunday night, making it unsafe, particularily for a school yard. As of tonight, it was still there, so maybe they had concerns about which way it was going to come down and needed to bring in some different equipement. Wouldn't want to wipe out a house or something...

I hope this guy isn't afraid of heights, 'cause he's a looooooooong way up!

Beautiful Bride

Yes, I'd marry her all over again! Gotta love the '80's poofie sleeves - all we need is the poofie hair to go with it! Even more beautiful almost 20 years after the first time I saw her wear this.
The girls dug it out for a bridal party fashion show that's coming up this weekend for a young lady in the church. And yes, it still fits perfect.

Church on the Move...very slowly

Here is an interesting visual metaphor to think about.

Here's the story: Heuersdorf, Germany, October 25, 2007—A flatbed truck slowly drags the 660-ton Emmaus Church toward its new home in the town of Borna, 7 miles (11 kilometers) away from its native village of Heuersdorf in eastern Germany. More than 700 years old, the Romanesque stone church had to be relocated to make way for open-pit coal mining near Heuersdorf. Traveling at a speed of 1 miles-an-hour (1.6 kilometers-an-hour), the church will arrive in Borna on Wednesday.

Compare the above picture to this one. Any thougths?

Mark and Katie

Some friends of mine have moved to New Delhi India for a bit to help launch a marketplace missions project. Check out Mark and Katie's blog...they are having quite and adventure!

Day 43 - Guess What I Did Today!

Guess what I did today...I put custom stripes on my new lawn. Okay, so it probably really didn't need mowing, but I needed to mow it. I mean, what's the point of having a lawn mower if you never use it?

I love how you can alter the colour in the computer and make things look really green. Actually, I just made it look as green as it looks in real life!

Single Leadership Structures

Okay, I'm bored with watching grass grow. It looks like I won't get to mow my lawn until next spring, which is a huge disappointment...Oh well, I just have to get over it and move on.

Here's a provoking thought from Alex McManus (Erwin's brother):

"Take this first list:
1) The single leadership structures that are assumed at every popular leadership conference are unbiblical.
2) The leadership structures of almost every church in America are not scriptural.
3) There are no examples of single leadership in the NT.
4) Practically every Pastor we admire leads from an unbiblical leadership paradigm.

Do these ideas cut against the current corporate church leadership culture? You bet they do."

A question I have is whether church leadership structure a cultural issue rather than a 'biblical' issue. Was plural leadership a reflection of the culture of the NT and is singular leadership merely a reflection of today's culture?

Another thought is that I don't think the leading pastors we admire today are a 'alone' as they may appear. I bet everyone of them has an close leadership team that works with them. They just happen to be the 'face' of the organization, which is merely a cultural reflection of the way we do things. So maybe McManus' comments are much to do about nothing...

Day 30

One of the great things about living on the Coast is that you get to plant winter flowers! (Eat your root seller out, all you prairie people suffering through killer frosts and serious snow!)

Day 29

Things are green, but not thick or long enough to need mowing. I'm begining to think that the lawn mower will sit until next spring. Also, with all the rain, the ground is really soft, so at this point it would be good to avoid walking on it. Now If I can just get the deer to cooperate!

Day 24

Day 21

Day 15

The difference a couple of days make...

Day 13

Things suddenly look green - if you get it from the right angle! Looks like the big rain didn't hurt.

Day 12 - the big rain

Well, we had our first big rain of the season last night - about 50mm in 12 hours. I'm not sure how much damage was done to the lawn...time will tell.

Day 11

Day 10 - you can see the green

This is the best part of the lawn. I think it has a little more shelter and a little more warmth. But the rest is coming along.

Day 9 - all reved up

This...leads to this... Yes, it's an experienced machine. With the grass being new, and me not having a lawn to mow for the past 8 years, I thought it would be good to have someone that knew what it was doing. Any ideas for a name?

Day 8 - The real thing at last!

Hold on to yer seats, folks! I think we have the real thing starting to show. The previous two blades have obviously been imposters. Now this is something you can SEE and FEEL! You have to look really, really close (you can actually see grass in the picture below), but if you brush your hand just over the dirt you can feel the new blades! It is just on one section of the lawn, but it is the area that is the most sheltered with the most sun, so hopefully the others areas will be showing signs of germination soom...like maybe TOMORROW?

Day 7 - signs of life?

Another sign of life?

Day 6

Okay...now I know where they get the saying that "This is as exciting as watching grass grow..."

Day 5

Ah-ha! There has been a deer on my lawn...and a dog...and a kid with little rubber boots...

Day 4 - the first blade?

Things were looking pretty much the same today, but then I saw IT! Is this blade really the first grass to grace my dirt? Is this a biological over-achiever? Or is this just an imposter? A weed that has lurked in my dirt for a week before sprouting and decieving my inexperienced, naive grass growing mind? Only time will tell...

Day 3

Rainy day..but that's okay.

Day 2

Still no grass, but remain optimistic. Good day for growing. Rain in the morning, partly sunny for the afternoon. Went mower shopping, but decided that purchase wasn't urgent. Here is a close up. Mostly looks like ground-up recycled paper...

Day 1

No grass yet...but I went lawn-mower shopping! (Faith in action...)

Day Zero

Hydro-seeding! Oh joy! What bliss! Grass at last!!! (Faith is about unseen things hoped for...)

Day Zero minus 1

The dirt is ready! I'm gonna have a lawn!

Wheel Barrow Racing!

After living on the prairies and in Richmond, we thought a multi-level yard would be nice for a change. Hmmmm. About now, flat sounds really good.

Day Zero minus 1 week

It's a dirty job...but we want a lawn! See my head behind the big dirt pile? We had 55 cubit yards of dirt to move - that's 3 big dump truck loads. No wonder I'm tired...

Day Zero minus 13 months

Here's what we started with...

Facebook Dictionary

Here's an some helpful info I stumbled across for those of you feeling out of the loop regarding Facebook. Now you can know what everyone else is talking about without ever going near the 'crack cocain' of the internet...

FACEBOOK.COM (n) – a social utility Web site launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004. First open to Ivy League schools, then expanded to Boston universities and soon to thousands of colleges, businesses and regions worldwide. Anyone 13 and older can register for a free account with a valid e-mail address. The site allows users to create a personal profile and connect with friends, colleagues and classmates, as well as other people within their networks.

PROFILE (n) – 1. personal user page where you can upload a picture, photo albums, personal information and list interests, activities, favorite movies, books and music. Numerous privacy settings allow control over who can view the profile.2. An obligatory self-encapsulation, often done with wit and irreverence (and questionable accuracy).

NETWORK (n) – Facebook is not one big site; upon registering, you can choose to join networks depending on your location, school or employer. You can only view the profiles of people you add as friends or those with whom you share a network.Example: Brad is a member of the Los Angeles, Weinstein Company and University of Missouri networks.

NEWS FEED (n) – An automatic personal breaking news blog that appears on the home page. It lists any and all activity of friends on the site, with a few exceptions. The feature was met with outrage when introduced in September 2006, with more than 700,000 users joining the group “Students Against Facebook News Feed.” The creators quickly established more privacy settings so users could limit what showed up on the News Feed.

MINI-FEED (n) – The more specific version of the News Feed that appears on a profile and reports only on recent stories relevant to that person’s activity on Facebook. Stories can be deleted by the user.

TAGGING (v) – This is not a case of who’s “it.” It means to upload unlimited photographs into an album that appears on Facebook and then identify which people are present in the photographs. The tagged photos show up on their profile. It is possible to “untag” unwanted photos that will not appear on the profile but remain in the original album.

FRIENDING (v) – To add someone as a Facebook friend, allowing the person to see a version of your profile.

FACEBOOKING (v) – General activity when logged into Facebook, whether searching for people, checking updated profiles, leaving wall posts, etc.See also: procrastinating.

POKE (v) – The virtual tap on the shoulder to draw attention. A notification appears on the home page that someone has poked you. Universal definitions and connotations of “the poke” vary from the innocent to the explicit.

EVENTS (n) – Instead of sending invites via snail mail, let people know about upcoming parties, gatherings, promotions, charity events, elections, etc. Guests can RSVP and see who else is on the list. It’s inevitable that someday weddings will be announced via Facebook.FACEBOOK

PLATFORM (n) – 1. a new feature where users can develop templates to make customized additions to their profile. Examples: the “Where I’ve Been” application maps past, present and future travels. “The Office” application delivers the wisdom of Dwight and Michael. Users can also give people “Free Gifts” such as random icons of a cactus or birthday cake.2. Part of Facebook’s plan for world domination. Soon, everything will be found on Facebook, such as music, movies, stores, etc.

THE WALL (n) – A profile feature that lets others leave public comments. Often used for birthday wishes, inconsequential banter and brief notes. Debates rage on about whether it’s appropriate to carry on a full conversation on the wall.

MESSAGES (n) – A more informal version of e-mail that gives users a private way to send notes to friends.

GROUPS (n) – A collection of people who have similar interests or ideas, with various degrees of seriousness.Example: “I Support Hilary Clinton,”, “Red Sox Nation,” “You Know You’re From Nashua When . . .”

MARKETPLACE (n) – Classified section where users can buy and sell anything. The Facebook eBay.

STATUS (n) – Let people know what you’re doing right this second. Comparable to the AIM away message. However, it only appears in the present continuous grammatical tense.Example: “Eileen is writing a Facebook dictionary.”

– EILEEN HYNES

We're Back

You probably didn't even know we were gone. Heather, if you want to see all the pictures, you have to get on Facebook. Come on, I'll be your friend!