Waiting

It's been a while since i sent an update. I don't know if i was being superstitious or just too busy. Lots has changed since we last talked.

I accepted a call to join the staff here. That's right. We're moving here.

and since we made the decision to go it feels like we have been constantly rushing and constantly waiting.

Rushing to buy a house, waiting to see if our offer was accepted.

Rushing to sell our own house, waiting for someone to buy it.

about a dozen episodes of amended offers, and counter offers each one with waiting involved.

Since September my wife has been working through the first semester of year 3 of her BA, at UofW.

she goes to school 4 days a week which means that 4 days a week I am rushing to get the kid and wife off to school, and 4 days a week i'm waiting for my wife to get home from school.

Weeks and months have gone by.

we are now just a month from Christmas.

by Christmas most of our Earthly possessions will be on a truck on their way to Thunder Bay.

we will be living out of our cars till Christmas is over and we can join our stuff up North.

it seems like there is a lot to do but i still spend all my time waiting.

waiting for all the paperwork to be done for our houses.
waiting for my chest cold to be gone so i can sleep in my own bed again.
waiting for all sorts of things.

yesterday i realized that i haven't spent enough time waiting on the Lord.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.

God has been so good over the last few months.

We got called to join the amazing staff team here. That's right. We're moving here. Amazing.

did i mention that we found an awesome house?



In order to get said house, we had to sell our own in less than 3 weeks. we sold it in a day give or take a few amendments.

Amazing.

My wife is almost done her semester, the kids are getting excited about the adventure we are departing on, and really, God has withheld no good thing.

I'm not American but i am thankful today.

blue christmas

blue christmas
Originally uploaded by n.elle

Christmas is coming people.

Elvis is coming people.

edge

 

Dude looks good!

Mom says, "no!"

Dad finishes the cut.

my son

 

Chicken pecked

 
His smile didn't last.

he's getting better now.

we still haven't found the offending chicken.

Striker

 

Don't confuse the flirty look for mercy. This girl is a killer. she'll cut through the defence and make you regret running a 4-2-4.

How to get rid of your Pastor

Len Sweet posted this today on Twitter and Facebook.

Richard W. De Haan of "Radio Bible Class" once introduced "4 Ways to Get Rid of Your Pastor." Here are the ones I remember . . . Can you think of any other ways?
1) Look your preacher straight in the eye and say "Amen" periodically. They'll soon preach themselves to death, they'll be so excited.
2) Pat your pastor on the back and brag on his/her good points. They'll soon work themselves to death, they'll be so happy
3) Rededicate your life to the Lord, and ask your pastor for a project to do or a mission to accomplish. They'll die of heart failure.
4) Sponsor a congregation-wide prayer fest for the pastor. They'll become so effective in ministry, some larger church will take them off your hands.

Great intro to a pretty complex discussion

The folks at Thomas Nelson continue to put out resources designed to challenge and inspire people in their faith journey.

I've just finished making my way through their study on Faith and Pop Culture

As a small group study resource I was generally impressed.

The study is designed to examine the intersection between faith and the arts and or modern forms of entertainment. The first 4 chapters cover art or entertainment as it comes to us in the form of Movies, Literature, sports, and television. From there the study shifts to ask questions about the moral content contained in various forms, with a chapter devoted to violence. In the second to last week of the study your group can consider the potential of Christians to influence Hollywood. It’s not until the last week that your group asks what may be the defining question of the book; how does this culture of entertainment affects our inner lives.

I was impressed with the length of the studies. There are pages of questions that thoroughly interact with the article that the chapter is based on.

On the design / layout side of things, I think this book specifically, would have benefitted had it’s format reflected a more artistic look. Talk about art is insufficient. Why not design it as a magazine. Give examples of art, modern and historical or classical. Include pages of ads that demonstrate the positive and not so positive potential of visual advertising. Include a DVD or web links to various media clips.

It also bears saying that while this study seems to encourage the assembling of a small group of people to consider and discuss the affects of of various forms of art, media and entertainment on the individual, there wasn’t a great deal of time spent considering how these various forms of media affect us socially or relationally.

All in all it’s a study that my small group and I would probably enjoy and find stimulating.

Random Art

Had a meeting this morning and when it was done i thought i would do some work at Joppa.

Walked in to see this.

Very cool. Random Art.

Joppa House Band from Darryl Buckle on Vimeo.

Catalyst West Coast Live Blog

Playing

 
love playing chess with Esther.

Did i mention that Joppa Rocks?

yikes

Man... i just had a one day to live dream.

Yup. i was to be executed tomorrow. (I was innocent though)

i wanted to see my mom.

I didn't know if i had done enough to make sure my family would be taken care of.

I couldn't figure out why on my last day to live i was touring some historical sight in Ottawa.

go big or go home

 

needs no additional comment

Oma and Abi

1236539807
Originally uploaded by Friar Buck

Every time oma comes over, abi and her work on their "knot a quilt"

Abi loves it and i think it looks really good.

Book Reviews Coming

hey did you know that Thomas Nelson is looking for bloggers to review their books?

I just found out.

Stay tuned for my two cents.

 

Went to the golf show with Dave on Friday. took a picture of my dream golf cart.

Big Brother

Esther and Shiloh are watching Austin Steven's Adventures on Discovery channel... and Esther's kind of nervious... so they're holding hands... cute.

Dinner Music

Click to Play

I can't help it if my kids got the rock'n gene

Tags: dinner music, kids

 
I've been working hard to keep the house clean while Luana is at school.

 

When i was driving Tim Hay to his grandparents a couple weekends ago i noticed this place. Belfountain is a super cute little town. So i though i'd bring Luana for a Monday morning cup of Tea. IT was pretty nice. The Tea was Ok, the setting nice, the music was about a 7, and they had a toy box for Esther. all in all pretty nice. I mean, it's not Joppa but it was nice.

sitting in Joppa

Esther: Daddy, i'm hungry

Me: Really? i'm surprised to hear that.

Esther: Maybe we should have something.

Me: You think so do you?

Esther: (smiles and nods)

Twitter?

ok so have you started using twitter yet?


Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

A Car wreck

Have you ever seen Meet the Parents?

Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro?

It's one of those movies that i just can't bare to watch. I hate movies where all the humour revolves around characters putting themselves in situations where they are humiliated or injured. It's a whole genre of movie. There are dozens and dozens of movies like this.

I can't watch them. I can't bare to watch people get embarrassed or humiliated. I don't like being embarrassed or humiliated and i don't like watching others get embarrassed or humiliated.

The worst part of these movies is that 90% of the humiliation and embarrassment comes at their own fault. They don't see it coming. They willfully put themselves into situation where there is really only one end possible. and they don't see it coming.

I get stressed out watching these movies.

I imagine i've gotten myself into situations where there's a world of hurt coming and didn't see it.

And i've seen people walk right into those kinds of situations as well.

It reminds me of those horror movies where the ditzy blonde stumbles on a room in a backwoods cabin where her other two friends have mysteriously disappeared and she decides that she had better investigate why the window in the back bedroom is suddenly open. It's funny when people in the theatre all want to shout "He's right behind you" but don't and so she gets her head lopped off. (for the record, she probably would have gotten her head lopped off if we had have yelled look behind you too... i'm just sayin'")


I get stressed out watching people walk into those kinds of rooms, shout out in disgust at the person who left the window open, self righteously close the window, drop their drawers and proceed to practice their Arnold impersonation in front of the mirror in their tighty whiteys right up until the moment they get their head lopped off. I mean. If they weren't so busy admiring their pecs they might have noticed the guy in the hockey mask coming up behind them. I'm just saying.

Twitter To Go: How one local coffee shop used Twitter to double their clientele. What’s YOUR story?

Twitter To Go: How one local coffee shop used Twitter to double their clientele. What’s YOUR story?

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Read this today.

Gracious God,
our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide,
and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name,
what our hearts can no longer bear,
and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgement.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change;

open to us a future in which we can be changed;

and grant us grace to grow
more and more in your likeness and image,

through Jesus Christ,
the light of the world. Amen

A first

Esther: When can i have a ceremony

Me: When you become Prime Minister

Shiloh: I didn't think Girls could be Prime Minister

Me: Well it is rare now, but it will be far more normal by the time Esther is Prime Minister.

Me: Hey Buddy that's what's so special about the ceremony today. This is the first time there has ever been a Black president of the United States.

Shiloh: Cool.

Me: You bet it is buddy!

Shiloh: I guess that's why they're having such a big party.

Me: You bet it is Buddy!