nostalgia

A quick post about our very quick visit to Winnipeg over the weekend... we had a very packed few days.

Friday night, we took in KPAC's worship arts cafe.  It was awesome... this is an annual production put on by the Worship pastor at the church we went to in Winnipeg.  The first 'act' was Japanese drumming by the Fubuki Daiko troupe in training.  It was really great. 

 I have to say that the highlight of the evening  (at least for me) was Neil.  Neil is this guy who was baptised about a year ago, and he has this amazing story of being lost and searching....and then finding what he'd been looking for.  A persistent friend said 'I'm sticking with you while you search and fail and fall on your face, because I know what you're searching for and I want to be right beside you when you're ready to grasp it.'  Eventually, Neil was ready, and he plugged into a church home, a men's group, even moved in with a family from his faith community.  On Friday night, there was Neil, singing his heart out with the Choir.  They did a song with a repeated chorus of Alleluias and somehow I only heard Neils voice singing those praises!  He is a tremendous inspiration and I love seeing the fruit of his growing relationship with his Creator.

  

Saturday, the kids and I helped out with the Variety Gala set up, an annual thing we always did that we didn't have to miss out on this year!  It was fun, although we didn't get to do the table setting that had become the kids annual job.  instead we tied ribbons on plants.  Many, many artificial shrubs and greenery type stuff.    Then Bren and I went to the Gala in the evening.  It was nice, and I really miss working at Variety.. but don't worry Rosy, there was no one wooing us back!  We had decided last year to do a live auction for Variety's special needs program at this year's gala, and they stuck with that idea.  Would you believe they  raised about $6o,000 in about 15 minutes?  They auctioned off Play Centre items for Cancer care Manitoba, Parent support software for the Victoria Speech and Hearing Clinic, a boat for Camp, a Wig for a preschooler, tons of other stuff.  What a blessing it was to see all the skepticism about having an auction like this put to rest!  We've always done auctions for jewels, trips, a Vespa once, ... I was so impressed that folks opened their wallets even more for an auction that didn't provide any personal benefit at all.  We really enjoyed seeing all the volunteers, the committee, .. we got lots of hugs and kisses and felt very welcomed!  And Monty Hall was there, that was cool!  We'd met him at a different event a few years ago.

Sunday we went to Fort Garry MB, where we attended for many years until we moved to the inner city and went to church there for a while.  They've added on and have an awesome building now.  The Bethany players were there, and this was our first time seeing them.  I had hoped that some of my family would come and see them, but everyone had stuff going on...

we also saw lots of familiar faces from the past there!  And the Players (and Doug!) delivered a great message.  I think if I had to choose,  my favorite thing was the flagging. 

Monday, we drove home in time to go to the YFC Saskatoon banquet.. they have an AMAZING ministry.  I was really struck with the way that they (seemingly effortlessly) combine outreach to youth who are not yet believers with leadership development of youth who demonstrate deep commitment and faith... 

The REASON for our trip was of course a new baby in the family.. so we all enjoyed every minute that we spent with Haily.  I slept with her a little each night, then brought her to mom when she was ready to eat.  I did that with TJ last year, too.  I wonder if Karen will let me sleep with her in July.. although we don't usually share a cabin.. hmmm.?!?

Thats our whirlwind weekend in a few paragraphs.  Thanks for reading and staying in touch with us.

take care.

untitled

I re-read that last blog and decided to post tonight just because there are so many typos in that last post and it shouldn't be the first thing anyone sees. I could log on and fix them, or just put something new up.. what to say?!!?? I'll tell you a bit about our week.


It's late here in Hepburn, but we have a basement full of men yelling at our TV. This actually happens quite often - one would think we've encouraged it or something. Usually late at night or early on Saturday mornings. They're all pretty funny. Gil yells as if his team can hear him.. from Calgary, Liverpool, wherever. I'm not sure why he supports all these people he routinely calls idiots.... or IDIOTS!!!


Paul is also pretty funny. He just told Brendan to sit down and stop with the shenanigans. Thats a pretty big word, shenanigans.


Earlier, I went downstairs to get some chips and Jeff was reading a book while watching. Haven't seen that before...



We are going to winnipeg again this coming weekend, we can't wait to meet Haily, Karen's newest little one. And drink coffee with Eryka. And visit with everyone, reconnect a little bit. We've actually been to Winnipeg almost every month since we left. I've flown twice, Bren's flown once, and we've driven four times. I don't think we'll be doing this again!





We're toying with the idea of building a house. I know, its crazy. i've always thought that Brendan and I would kill each other if we had to undertake a project like that. Or it'll make us stronger.. I'm not sure it's a good idea to investigate which way it would go.. but there is some appeal that has never existed before.





I got an extension on my course to get three major papers and 3 minor assignments done by June 9th. I literally have that much work to do, since I've restarted the two papers I've begun several times each. My course 'tutor' gave me the following advice about my topic and initial work : "Its like you're trying to put three elephants into a Nalgene water bottle" - I think he means for me to narrow my topic significantly. I guess that explains why I've been so frustrated. And why an undergrad degree is actually a good idea.





Bethany is officially empty of students. today was the first day without them. Its going to be a long 4 months. Its looking good for having my department fully staffed again though, I interviewed two great candidates today and just need to discern who is the right one. Its almost too good to be true.. I am so excited to develop this little team. And it'll be nice to delegate some of that LONG to-do list, too!





Goodnight.

Baby Haily

Eryka meets her new sister

finishing the thought from previous post.. and other randomness

A couple of weeks ago, Brendan and I picked up the mail and the front cover made my eyes hurt. Jesus has an identity crisis, according to the headline... huh? Why is everything about Jesus OUTRAGEOUS unless its in a publication called "Christianweek" or some like thing? Really ....
to be honest, I had typed a post about this last weekend, and then I lost it completely. I have troubles with blogger. (and other technology) The post I lost was obviously not meant to be. What I really think our (collective) response should be ... and this is my prayer... is captured in the words of a worship song. This song was playing in my head all week, and then we actually sang part of it in church last Sunday.

Men of faith rise up and sing

Rise up women of the truth

Rise up church with broken wings

This song encourages us -the church and its people - to contemplate and act... Maybe we've done enough sitting and being complacent? Maybe we should have a really big problem with articles like this, and the way our faith is portrayed in the media?

Other random stuff:

Work is wonderful chaos this week. Students will soon be leaving, and I am feeling pretty empty knowing that the college will soon be a lonely place. But, this weekend hasn't arrived yet and there is much to do.. grad, concert choir and commencement this weekend.. and Angie and her fiance Kyle are staying at our place so the house is as full as the schedule!

My Regent class is not going well.. I've written and re-written my first paper several times and I feel like a schmuck. I had this expectation that was totally wrong, and now I have to adjust my thinking to the reality rather than the way I thought it would. Thing was, I had been dreaming about the day I'd take this course from Regent for 10 years ... so, I guess I'll be asking for an extension and having my laptop surgically implanted at the end of my fingers for even longer. hurray!

Sydney did a speech for 4H today about using her singing voice and taking voice lessons. It was awesome.. she said something about being able to lose herself in singing, and what a sense of accomplishment it is to see her own improvement. I remember asking God a long time ago to show us those things about our kids that would be their safe place, their place of giftedness, a source of confidence, something that was in them only because He had made it so. For Sydney it was singing, and to hear her heart about it was awesome! She also danced in her recital in Waldheim last weekend and did an excellent job.

thats all for now... if you're a reader, let me know as I'm contemplating different options in blogging..

Incensed... 1.5?!?

I'm planning to blog about the Macleans article about Christ's identity crisis, because its bugging me. In the meantime, I had an interesting discussion today that intersected a previous entry .. so I figured I'd post about it real quick...

today, I had a great opportunity to chat with a Bethany student in his first year. I've been impressed with this young man since the beginning of the year.. wait, to be honest ALL of our students impress me. Actually, since I'm on the topic, can I just say that I Love working at Bethany, and I really appreciate the opportunity to see God at work in the lives of our students. He's speaking, and they're listening. And it shows. And they care, really deeply about the world. They have that in common with each other, although the expressions of their compassion and care are incredibly diverse.. all over the map, so to speak!
we're chatting in my office while he's biding time to the friday night plans he has with a buddy, and the conversation is about ministry, opportunities, ways to serve, and then there's a lull. So I leaned back in my chair, and asked if I could ask his opinion about something... so I said 'what do you think about all the noise about women and leadership?'
this clever young man doesn't miss a beat, he responds (clearly having spent some time thinking about this topic) "everyone should use their gifts, and I have no problem if a woman uses hers and that means she's my pastor... what I have a problem with is if she thinks it's her RIGHT to be my pastor, and she's more interested in having that right than she is in serving God."
Wow. I'm recording this just incase I ever doubt that tomorrow's church is in very good hands.

Incensed

incense: to inflame with wrath; make angry; enrage (according to dictionary.com)  

I've had two occasions where I've felt 'incensed' recently.  Neither of them involved commerce in the temple, so I'll admit right off that at least one of the occasions was an un-holy anger.

This idea of women in leadership, particularly senior leadership - I used to think it was someone else's cause.  I've been a pretty happy neutral on that one.  But recently I had a discussion with someone.. a male someone... who said he could never, ever disobey scripture and submit to female spiritual leadership.  I almost swallowed my tongue.  I was INCENSED... as in inflamed (hey, could the dictionary be wrong; shouldn't it be enflamed?) with anger.

How about the rest of scripture we routinely disobey??

 (I think my heightened awareness comes from a paper I'm writing about consumerism.  I thought it would be a good idea to contrast the American Dream and the words of Christ, since North America is known simultaneously as a Christian Nation and a Wealthy Nation.  What I'm realizing is that there is a huge difference in these two 'gospels' - yet we manage to find ways to say that we embrace and follow both.  Considering that Jesus said we couldn't love God and mammon, this has been a challenging realization for me. )

Anyway, back to how this relates to women/leadership - I lost my marbles when the comment about obedience to scripture was made.  Because sometimes I think we simply don't live out obedience in the areas that seemed to be closest to the heart of Jesus.  I think maybe we're supposed to look and live really differently than the people who don't know God.  

But we sure know how to play that 'obedience' card when it suits us.  And we know how to take certain passages and say they're relevant for all time, while saying that others aren't relevant in our day.  (Met any slave-owners lately?)  Its that contradiction that makes my blood boil.  Is it possible that we adjust the message of Jesus to our worldview instead of letting Jesus' message BE our worldview?  

(and if anyone named bubba is reading this, the anger was directed at the principle, not the person!)

Incensed #2 to follow..