2009 is upon us

Previous Post Podcast on small town Saskatchewan Part 1

 

I have been thinking a bit now about 2009 and all that comes with bringing in the new year. For many years I have made or vowed not to make new years resolutions. Resolutions that I would inevitably break because they were unrealistic or impossible to attain to.  I have been thinking and considering what to do this year, and even if I should do anything.

 What I have come up with is that I want to spend this next year, and the rest of my life getting into good and healthy rhythm’s. Rhythm’s in my eating, exercise, reading, study, family, work, rest, networking, mission, etc. I don’t want to just pick one thing and say “i am going to do this more this year, or I am going to stop doing that this year. I just don’t think that is the answer, or even the best way to live.

 I have been reading ReJesus by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch and they are talking allot about becoming Little Jesus(es). They describe becoming a little Jesus as something more than just accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, but as a lifestyle of emulating Him, using his life as a pattern for your own. This is what I want to see happen this next year. I don’t want to just stop doing one thing or start doing another, but i want my life to look, in every aspect like Jesus’s. If I didn’t want or strive for this then why would I bother following this man?

This is my new years hope, my life’s hope. I have been striving for this for a long time and will continue to strive for it till Jesus takes me home, or till I lose my mine. One person that I see doing this well and am inspired by is Mark Scandrette author of Soul Graffiti. If you have never read Marks book and are aspiring to walk in the way’s of Jesus I encourage you pick it up. The Bible is a real great book in this too, especially since we are aspiring to walk as Jesus.

Anyway, regardless of your plans, hopes and aspirations for 2009 I wish you a happy new year and remember, don’t be an angry drunk, or a drunk in general.

Photo by Amy Cunningham

 

 

podcasts on small town Saskatchewan Pt. 1

Previous Post Saturday Evening at the Concert Hall Part 8

 

For the last few months I have been living in a small town in Saskatchewan called Birch Hills. I find it interesting that in the Mission Organization that I am apart of we go to small towns all over the world to do projects, evangelism and mercy ministry (which I also consider evangelism), but we are not attracted at all to small town USA or Canada. I thought it would be interesting to post a series of podcasts on small town Canada, specifically the one I will be living in till Aug. So, here for your listening enjoyment is podcast #1 on The New Ground Cafe.

 New Ground Cafe

 

 

saturday evening at the concert hall part 8

Previous post My Story Part 8

 

January 25, 2006 was a cold night. By 6pm I was down at the Key Arena in Seattle hoping to get a couple of tickets to see Coldplay on their X & Y tour. I always go into these things with a sense of confidence and also some sense of doubt that I am not going to get in, but I have nothing to lose so I continue.

 The Coldplay show was a tought one to get into. The album had sold millions of copies, was compared to U2’s Joshua Tree (which is wasn’t) and I believe the show was sold out, or at lease close to it. I asked a lot of people for tics that night. I got the usual remarks of “good luck man,” “I wish I could, but I have none to spare” and the random “what, do you think I’m f-ing crazy, you will never get a free ticket.”

 It took me a good hour or so, but I eventually got two tickets for $20, that’s right, two tickets to Coldplay for $20. I got on the phone, called Amy and told her to get in the van and come down to see the show. I was super excited, but I also had approx. 40 minutes till Amy got there so I walked around and asked a few other people if they had extra tickets. I asked this one person and they, without hesitation handed me a ticket.

 Now I make it a habbit not to sell tickets that I get for free. I am very thankfull for the people that have given me tickets to shows, it is very selfless and very kind of them. But, I had 3 tickets to a show and there were only two of us going. So I went around to the front of the arena where all the scalpers are and I sold one of the tickets I had bought for $20 to a scalper for $25, yea scalpers. Now we were all set. Two tickets to Coldplay and I made $5, but on the down side Amy and I didn’t have seats together.

 Eventually Amy got down to the arena and landed a free parking spot less than 100 yards from the arena 15 minutes before the band hit the stage, unheard of. This is more of a feat than the free tickets in my opinion. We got in, said hello to a couple of friends that were also at the show and sat down in two empty seats that we found together. About 45 minutes into the show, which was amazing by the way, the people who had the seats came and claimed them, so we moved. Half an hour or so later we had to move again, and eventually we just sat in different rows, but close enough that we could hit each other with a marshmallow if we wanted.

 I found out something about Amy that night. Amy, who was like 8 months pregnant at the time, likes to go to a show with advance tickets that are together. I on the other hand just want to go out and whatever happens happens, as long as we are having fun and are together. This night however Amy did not have fun, she did like the show though. Next time I will make sure we get seats together. Oh, and with the extra $5 I bought a Coldplay pin for my fried Gordon who watched Emma for us, thanks dude.

my story part 8

There are only 2 day’s till Christmas. I am excited, but there is still this sense and knowledge that something is missing. On the 26th our family is hopping in the mini van and heading to Winnipeg. It is hard going back home for the holidays as there is that tension of grieving that the family is not all together and rejoicing that we have what we have and not letting our circumstances get to us. I was talking to my sister today about going to Church on Christmas eve. My mom wants to go, but my sister doesn’t. I understand both of their feelings.

On one hand, we always went to church as a family on Christmas eve, sung cheesy carols, got excited and emotional and then went home to a warm house, ate food that would eventually kill us and anticipated Christmas morning. My mom wants this, she wants to do this as a family, and I don’t blame her. On the other hand, my sister doesn’t want to go to church and pretend that everything is OK and swell. I understand this also. I understand that there is this expectation, weather it is put on us or we put it on ourselves, that Christmas is about family getting together, being happy, being whole and everything being alright.

Here are my thoughts, now that I have told you my mom and sisters, without permission of course (sorry mom and sis). I think that we should not let our circumstances or expectations (ours or others) effect out response and actions. Yes, it is hard and would be hard to go to Church on Christmas Eve without dad, but on the other hand we don’t have to go and pretend that everything is OK. How refreshing would it be to go to Church on Christmas Eve just as you are. To go as a hurting person who has hope in a savior who has also lived a life of pain? I think that we so often and so instinctively go to Church with our fake smiles and lie to people about how things are. Then we go home alone, hurting and wondering why nobody cares about us. Oops, did I say that out loud?

I  believe that during this season we need to rejoice in the birth of Jesus in spite of our circumstances. There is a greater focus during Christmas than family, it is Christ. We need to die to our hurts (not forget about them or pretend their not there) and ask Jesus to fill us with His joy. This sounds as cheesy as the carols, but it is true and it is this Jesus and this hope that we put our faith in. Yes I am hurting this season, yes I am wishing things we different but I am going to look to little 8 pound baby Jesus this Christmas and not to the things that I wish were different.

Disclaimer- I don’t think that you need to go to church on Christmas Eve, I just think that we shouldn’t let our circumstances stop us from going. In that, there are other way’s that we could spend Christmas Eve that are just as meaningful and just as Jesus focused than going to a church service. Like hanging out with friends and family, enjoying a nice bottle of wine and thanking God for sending his only son Jesus into the world to save us from our sins. I encourage you to not let a corporate church service be your only time of thanks and praise, but find other way’s to connect with family and Jesus this year. Be creative.

I hope that you have a beautiful Christmas this year. That Jesus shows up in your life in new and wonderful way’s. I hope that you don’t let your circumstances take away the joy that He brings. This is my prayer this year for your family and mine. -Amen.

no post tonight

Previous Post Jusice Friday

 

No Saturday night post tonight. I am on an on line fast. It is something I need to do. No blog, email, internet, twitter, etc. Thanks for stopping by and we will see you on Tuesday.

Justice Friday

Previous Post My Story Part 7

 

Justice is served. Yesterday Theoneste Bagosora, the man accused of masterminding the killings of more than 800,000 people in Rwanda has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of genocide.

Col. Theoneste Bagosora, 67, is the most senior military official to have been convicted in connection with the genocide, in which bands of Hutu massacred 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. He was a leading Hutu extremist and the cabinet director for Rwanda’s Defense Ministry at the start of the slaughter. He and three other senior army officers had been on trial since 2002 at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which is based in Arusha, Tanzania.

This is a beautiful thing, to see someone brought to Justice. I believe that Jesus blood cries out for Justice. “He has shown you, oh man. What is good and what does the Lord require of you? To do Justice…”

For more info please watch. and for more info on the trial and conviction see here.

 

 

My story part 7

Previous post Getting Down at the Nursing Home

 

I am reaizing more and more that this is not just my story, but this is the story of many. It is my story, my dads story, my moms story and my sister and her families story. Divorce and separation does not only affect the husband and wife, it affects everything and everyone that is involved in their lives.

 I have talked to my dad a lot about this and we have all seen the consequences of stupid decisions, no offense dad.  I let this affect the way I acted towards Amy my wife. This was the hardest, as I never realized that the separation affected and hurt her as well as me. I thought it was just me who was hurt and that when Amy said harsh things about the situation I would totally get pissed at her, like she was being totally insensitive. There is a commercial on t.v. that talks about depression. It is the cheesiest commercial I have ever seen, but it is truth. It says “who does depression hurt? Everybody. This, although cheesy from the commercial is very true and evident in this situation.

 It also affected others in my family. It affected my mom, for obvious reasons, my sister and her husband and kids. I remember my mom trying to figure out how to do life again. She had been with someone for 40 years and now, suddenly she was alone. She didn’t know how to get around, all her friends were her and dad’s friends as a couple, she didn’t know how to pay bills or get the car fixed among others. It was like starting all over for her. She was alone, scared, paranoid of being hurt by others and lonely. I think she may have pushed some people away, but it was out of her protecting herself out of fear of being hurt again from someone she loved.

 If affected the church. I remember coming into the office a couple of day’s after this all took place and cleaning out my dad’s desk, that sucked. The church needed to scramble to fine people to run youth. All the people working with youth were totally crushed and shocked at this, yet they still needed to run the youth group. What do you do in a situation like that? Do you tell the youth what happened or do you just move on and try to not talk about it? I think you talk about it. It is easy for me to say now, but at the time I don’t think they did, I think they just moved on. I am still a little hurt by that, I think the youth could have handled it, it would have made them stronger. It would have taught them how to pray and deal with situations like that.

 If also affected my dad. He lost/walked away from everything. I was talking to him the other month and he told me that the biggest thing right now is that after our time together I could go home, but he could not. He gave up home. He gave up relationship, his house, his friends and his work, all of which he loved dearly. There are some things that can be healed, like family and friends, but he will never be able to come back to the church or be able to come home. I am not sure how I feel about him never coming back to church now that I write this, maybe it would be good for the church to have to face this, to face him. Once again, I feel that in some way’s the church responded poorly to this. They didn’t face it or trust their congregants, they just prayed for a missing pastor and moved on, at least that is what the congregation saw.

 All this to say that this story which is entitled “my story” is not just my story at all. It is the story of millions who have had to go through the divorce of two people, however they are connected to them. If this is your story I hope that me telling this story and my process of dealing with it helps in some way or another. Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

 

Getting down at the nursing home

Previous Post Saturday Evening at the concert hall part 7

 

Today it was -30F in Birch Hills. What do you do when it is that cold you ask? Well, you go to the Christmas party at the nursing home. Amy’s Granny lives there so a bunch of us in the family went to party with the old folks. I have to say it was great to see the smiles on peoples faces as they were surrounded by family, friends, and tunes played on the accordian and keyboard. This small town in N. Saskatchewan is growing on me, and I mean that in a good way. Enjoy

 

saturday evening at the concert hall part 7

Previous Post Justice Friday Christmas

 

There is nothing more rock and roll on a saturday night than this story about my friend  P. Wade. Enjoy

 

 

Justice Friday, Christmas

Previous Post My Story Part 6

 

Christmas is coming! A time for giving, getting, eating, family and Jesus. I have alway’s loved Christmas. I love the feel of Christmas, the smells (those Christmas candles), the mood and the decorations. You alway’s know it is Christmas when the day after Thanksgiving you walk into the mall and see the decorations, hear the music and see Santa, the big fat alcoholic in a red and white suit sitting on his chair with kids on his lap.

 I have been thinking this Christmas about presents. This whole economy thing has really put a damper on consumerism hasn’t it! The thing about Christmas that I have found more this year than any other is that cirtain people all over the world wake up to tons and tons of presents sitting under the tree while others wake up to the same sore tummy, the same curable yet life taking diarrhea, the same fear that their HIV may turn into AIDS at any given time.

 Is there something we can do this Christmas to bridge that gap a little bit more? I think so. Many organizations are giving us an opportunity to purchase gifts for our friends and family, while providing income, medicine, and food the those who wake up each day with none. Below are a few things you can do to bless your loved ones and change the world at the same time.

 World Vision is offering the opportunity to buy a gift of food and provision for poor, malnourished families. You can buy a goat, help drill a well, provide the finances for an education and much much more. My dad has given world vision gift cirtificates for $25 and $40 to us so that we can use the gift to give to others. Our family helped purchase a pig for a family to give them food and piglets to sell for cash. The pig can also give them milk, according to Emma (haha). You can give from World Vision here.

 You can also give freedom through IJM’s Gift of Freedom Holiday Catalog.  Through IJM you can give $25 for a half day of investigative work to find people who have been trafficked into slavery. You can give $70 to empower IJM’s lawyers to represent victims of violent oppression in court, or you can give $40 towards the aftercare program that helps those who have been rescued from trafficking, specifically sexual.

 You can also give clothing. We gave Halfway There t-shirts to people this Christmas. 100% of all funds to purchase t-shirts go into the ground to dig wells in Africa. The cost, shipping and tax was payed for by the Halfway There office and so 100% of $19.95 shirt cost goes into the ground. You can purchase your Halfway There shirt here.

 There are many other way’s to give. What better present for someone to open than one that give life to others. It may not be what they sent on their list to Santa, but we need to change the perception and culture of Christmas to look more life giving and less selfish, it starts with us.