Breathing In

I ripped out a kitchen in an old area of town today. Behind the cabinets the walls were rotted and full of filthy black mold. When I went to detatch the sink from the plumbing the most putrid smell came from the pipes I've smelled in a long time, and I'm a guy who lives on my own. I should have done that last, but i decided to do it first, and consequently had to rip out the rest of the kitchen while enduring this awful emanation. When I was done, I walked upstairs into the fresh air, and took a deep breath. It was a deep, meaningful breath. It felt good, I loved the air and the way it didn't meet me with anything but its pure self.

I've done alot of thinking these last few weeks. Alot of crying, praying, singing and crying. Thoughts like the one I had today don't mask pain for me or anybody. There is some comfort, however in the true realizations that the spirit touches us with when we most need them. I was reminded today that after the last breath that a lover of Jesus takes on earth comes the first breath of the purest kind...the breath of the most meaningful kind. The breath where we meet the living God face to face and his presence reaches deep into our being, into the very capillaries which translate breath into blood and sustain us...We breath God, He becomes our breath...We live.

Miss you Bro.

Boo Yah

Hey homies.
Thanks for all the comments on my last post. Talking with my buddy Gord Mills about the post, I realized the last line of it may not be as theologically sound as we would all like it to be. I should clarify that it was more of a joke than anything, I don't actually think that i'm in charge of judging the size of anyone's mansions in glory, or that that will even matter there at all. I guess it wasn't funny ha ha...but just to clarify.

I Chose Paris, God Chose Iris

Hey dudes...

Today I was at a friends place and he showed me a DVD about an orphan aid project just outside of Capetown in South Africa, I think called the Jerusalem Project. At the helm of this deal is this really beautiful overweight old lady named Iris. They interview her, and one thing she said stuck out - when asked what drove her to give up her house and job to take care of a huge amount of orphans, and what drives her to still do it, she says: "I don't know...I have no figure, i'm not smart...it's just a call"...In other words, what she's saying is - I'm not cool by the world's standards, but i've been called by God, and thats enough for me...

Heres why that rocks my world. I have no doubt that anyone reading this knows that Paris Hilton is in jail, most probably know that shes getting out this week. Isn't that awesome? We've all heard of Paris Hilton, who is famous for being an idiot, and has made tons of money doing it, but no one has or will ever know about Iris, a real hero, who is taking care of about 100 kids by herself and has given her life to do it? Maybe this is what Paul is talking about in Corinthians about the cross as foolishness...about imitating Christ and following after guys and girls like Iris who are losers by the world's standards...The idea that following Christ might mean you wont be famous isn't a new one...I doubt Paul was an extremely cool dude himself sometimes (that comforts me by the way). Friends, it's all backwards, and i'm starting to think thats what the message of the cross sounds like to people sho don't understand it.

Iris, if you ever read this, which you probably won't; please save me a nice guest room in your mansion when we get to heaven.

Facebook Made me Do it

Sorry Peeps. Lets be honest here, cause thats what this is about. I've failed the blogging world, and i'm not going to make any excuses for my lack of responsibility (like that I was in Italy or without internet for a month or working...) Lets face it (see what I did there), its facebook's fault. Nobody probably even reads this thing anymore. If you do, give me a shout and ill keep posting. Actually Ill probably keep posting regardless. Moving on.

The last while has been good. Italy is fantastic; I highly recommend it, but not if you want a relaxing time - there is just too much to see. A highlight for me was in the South, a little town called Sorrento just south of Naples. Kathleen and i found a nice little campground and set up shop for a while there. It was good. Wherever we went we seemed to run into Dora the Explorer, as you can see I shared a laugh and a drink with her one night, and then we ran into her in Rome as well. Her keen sense of direction and knack for finding the coolest spots came in handy. Well, I better go, life seemed to smack me in the face with stuff to do as soon as I got back - let me just say that our Church has a retreat this weekend, and I am looking forward to relaxing and reading my Bible.

By the by, I promise not to slack off like that again. Secondly, check out the band's myspace...www.myspace.com/circleand8th

John for Mayer

Well, last night Matt Dyck and I made the grueling trip up to Edmonton to watch Johnny Mayer perform in all his glory. My synopsis of the event is that he was about the third best performance I have seen. The guy owns the guitar and has a pretty talented bunch of musicians with him. The best song of the night was gravity, not by any means my favorite song by him, but included a 5 or 6 minute tangent of insane improvisation and goodness, a la Dave Matthews. I thought Johnny should do that more often, and that is my only complaint. If you get the chance, I highly recommend the show. Here are some pics!

I'd Save the World, but Friends is on...

First off, I won't take all the credit for this post, as meaningless or nonsensical as it may turn out to be. It springs from a conversation I had a day or so ago with Ron the homeless guy down in Kensington. We (and by we I mean mostly Ron) were talking about the state of apathy that we as north americans often find ourselves in. Ron (who felt everyone was guilty of it - don't worry, I defended you non apathetic activists!) thought that, especially in Calgary, where "times are good" we lack conviction about things that our souls might really value. Why is it that we want to turn a blind eye to the less fortunate? Why is it we don't go out of our way to help people? Why do I not care about the government and where the money I give it goes? Why is it that when Gord Mills, a guy who's passionate about raising awareness about the Darfur/Sudan genocide, writes an article on his blog about what we can do about the situation, he gets no comments, no pats on the back, no "rally the troops" kind of replies? Why do funny "feel good" blog posts get people reading? Why do we show up to our hospital demolitions and school closings with popcorn instead of picket signs?

Ron seems to think it's because we are distracted. Work, TV, Flames fever, Family, friends, what have you - it all leaves no room for conviction. If I get excited about something, the logical end to my passion is action, and I don't want to have to act, because that involves time and energy - both of which I can't spare a drop. Notice how much TVshows have taken off in the last few years. Funny that we actually can't wait for things to distract us now. We line up for it!

Oh dear.

Whats the answer? I dunno, but I think that we need to get excited about stuff more often. If your a Christian and reading this, you probably believe that God's wired you to be passionate about certain things. Pursue that. Don't waste time doing it either. Yeah, it will involve time, energy, and might not always turn you on, but lots of times the road to getting crap accomplished isn't going to. All I know is that if we leave everything up to Jack Bauer, we might end up disappointed.

As an aside, I went biking today and took some pics. Hope you likeee.

This could be random

I think I might be narcoleptic. On my way around today, in the car, at work, I had to fight the urge to just fall asleep. Sorry to anyone who actually is narcoleptic out there, but i've heard the condition can present itself at anytime - the ol' eyes just roll back and you're done for a few minutes; maybe an hour. That was me today, except I had a little more self control. I was actually so head tired that I drove home with one eye closed so that at least half of me could get some rest.
Here's the serious bit. I got to thinking, as I woke up from a much needed, lengthy nap, about how I had planned to do so much today. Then, as I got in the shower, I thought about how much I have planned to do this week, where I will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, yes- even Friday (the John Mayer concert, BTW). I thought about what I have to do this month, how much planning I have to do, yes- I even thought about the things I have to do in the next year.
I got zapped.
God does that to me sometimes. Wake up, buddy, you're a moron! (except He's waay nicer than that)... 3 verses from James 4 jumped into my head like a Calgary Flame into a penalty box (we'll talk about that later):
You should know better than to say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to the city. We will do business there for a year and make a lot of money!"
What do you know about tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears.
You should say, "If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things."

It is good to plan; I think it's foolish not to. But when I become consumed with scheduling and worrying about what gets done and what doesn't; or with what I can fit into my day, I've lost the point. I've made time an idol. Like money, I just need more and I could do it all. Then I'd be happy, right? What I need is to live by the Spirit, accepting that my plans aren't always going to be what pans out; sometimes I just need a nap...

Alright, about the Flames quickly. I never lost hope. I didn't jump off the bandwagon. But, two things. Firstly, last night the fans were WEAK. Get on your feet and cheer during second overtime of the biggest game of the year. Weak. It felt like a regular season game in there. Worse, an exhibition game. Give me your tickets and I'll cheer if your not going to. The problem is the lower bowl tickets are about 400 bucks each so only oil moguls and their wives who don't want to be there can afford to go anymore. Secondly, honestly boys. The numbers game is against you when you get outshot 893 to 14. Kiprusoff is good, but he's no machine. I think next year they'll be better after Amonte, Hamrlik, Friesen, Playfair, and possibly Phaneuf are gone...Go sens go.