Time with God

As I was away in Calgary I realized that it is so vital to spend time with God. Everything that we do needs to be soaked in prayer. I heard of an interview with mother Theresa that went like this:

Interviewer (I): "So tell me about how you spend your day"
Mother Theresa (MT): "Well I get up at 4 in the morning and spend three hours with God"
I: "Three hours ? wow what do you pray about?"
MT: Well accually usually nothing"
I: "Nothing? wow, well what does he say to you?"
MT: "Usually nothing"
I: "So let me get this straight, you get up at 4 in the morning to pray yet you dont say anything and God doesn't talk to you"
MT: "That's right, just being in his presence is good enough for me"

Wow I have a hard time finding five minutes to be alone with God never mind 3 hours every day. I think that I would start calling myself FAWG (Falling asleep with God). So often we get so gung ho to do things without consulting God on them first. I dont mean asking God if you should wear shoes or sandals, I am talking about the bigger things in life. Where to move, who to spend time with, etc. I have realized that I need to begin doing this in my own life. Jesus asked us to come away with him and we best do that.
Times are coming where the Christian life is going to be stretched and we will need to depend on our relationship with God to get us through. We had better get going on this now while we are in a safe place so to speak. 5, 10 or 15 minutes a day in complete quietness before our God is critical, and so rewarding for the intimacy factor with him.

Meet and greet update

Tonight was our community meet and greet. It was really a lot of fun. It was cool because the people that came were people that we were already in relationship with. I wonder if that is how you truly build community. We had 11 adults and 12 children. Our neighbors beside us came over as well. It was really neat to see that they came. I think that community bilding is simply building relationships with others. Tonight I was invited over to my neighbor's house this winter for some Calgary and Edmonton hockey games.
I decided that I would come into this evening without any expectation in fear that I may be discouraged with the turn out. Also it helped me relax and visit. Another neat thing was that everyone was very excited about this meet and greet, and two other families really want to make this an annual event. One suggested that next year we block off the street and have it on our streets. I am very excited to see what transpires.
For now I feel that I am going to lay low for a bit and continue to pray. It really dawned on me while I was away that I need to soak everything in prayer. On a side note it was really encouraging to see my oldest son utilizing his gifts. I made coffee and he brought it out, plugged in the coffee pot then brought out the coffee cups. Then awhile later he brought out a bowl of plums from the fridge.. At first I was going to tell him to put them back but then I realized what he was doing and I let him. a very good night indeed.

Tidal wave wins the day

Well the day went well. It started off rough. Our three year old opened the back gate at my parents place and ran off. We didn't realize it for about 5 minutes or so. After that all 8 of us tore out searching the neighborhood for the boy. I tell you I dont scare easily, but my heart was starting to race. A three year old boy in Calgary....not cool. I was praying my head off. "God where is that kid, you know where he is, lead me to him" I finally found him 3 blocks away standing on a lawn. I didn't know if I wanted to scold him or hold him....I settled for the latter. After that ordeal we headed off to Calaway Park. I was most surprised by my 5 year old son. He was crazy. He loved every ride we took him on. The tidal wave was his favorite. He would raise his arms in the air on the rise. The rollercoaster on the otherhand didn't pan out. "It looks a lot smaller from the highway" was my kids response. I tried dragging my eldest son on but only got to the stairs when he was really scared, so we decided to cancel the ride. Did the log ride, got soaked, had fun. Would do it again in a shot. It is so much fun watching your kids have fun. Leaving for Saskatoon Sunday.

The boy's new post

My son has just posted a few new things on his blog . He has been checking it now and again to see if anyone has commented. If you don't mind, check it out and drop him a comment, it would mean the world to him.

Boys to men

I am on a quest today to turn my boys to men. I am taking them to Calaway park. My plan is to take them on some crazy rides. They have not experienced thrill rides before so it is my intention to change that. With my luck I will be the one hanging over the garbage can. As long as I stay away from the spinning ones I will be fine. I will post the experience later.

Meet and greet

I am very excited about a meet and greet potluck that my wife and I are planning for our block. We just printed out the invitations yesterday and will be handing them out this week. I am really looking forward to getting to know others better and giving other neighbors a chance to get to know each other. There isn't any agenda for the evening, just fellowship. I may have some boche ball out or nuefy golf. I am also planning on sending a farewell to our neighbors who are leaving at the end of the month.
I feel torn on that one as in one way it will benefit the block as they sell narcotics. (they aren't Pharmacists) However we have built up a trust relationship with them. They are seen as the outcast's on the block. People (ourselves included at times) complain about the smell of thier yard or the constant traffic they attract. Besides that they are great people. They seem to feel safe with us as many times they have come over asking for rides to go shopping or runs to the hospital. Yesterday was a prime example of that. At 5:00 AM the doorbell rang and I dashed out of bed and looked out the door. I didn't have my glasses on but saw two figures at the door. I wasn't going to answer it at fist as I didn't recognize them but then I realized that one of them was a child, besides I didn't want them to ring the doorbell again and wake up my kids.
I answered the door and it was my neighbor, she could hardly breath and asked if I could run her to the hospital. Turns out she was having an athsma attack.
They are leaving the community because they don't feel connected plus they are from Manitoba and want to go home. The straw that broke the camels back for them was when their Rottweiler attacked a 4 year old neighborhood boy. They had their dogs taken away which was hard for them as they loved thier dogs. (My fence is happy as they had four and they would jump up against our chain link fence when our kids were playing in the back yard)
As a part of the evening I want to acknowledge them and send them off on a positive note. I also want to send a message to my nieghbors that I am not a respecter of persons.
I am eager to see what God will do through that evening. I have no plans to talk about my faith or even Christianity. My sole purpose will be to love them. God will open a door if he wants me to speak. If I did I feel as though I would send them the message that I am inviting them with an agenda.
I will be away starting Saturday. Going to Alberta for the week. Doing the family thing and Calaway Park. If I don't have a chance to post on this further before the meet and greet, I will post about it after the fact.

A work in progress

I live in a 1912 house in the inner city. When we moved in here we had a workshop in our basement with a dirt floor. It must have been there since 1912 because it was saturated with coal dust. I thoguht it would be fun to share the journey of my basement. I am in the process of building a room for my 8 year old son.
In the first year I tore apart the workshop and pulled up the floor. (it was filled with wood and carpet). I then cleaned it up an left it for about a year.
Last Spring I hauled in 2 yards of rock and sand and started the daunting task of filling in the floor. 16 hours of hauling sand and rock in 5 gallon pails then mixing it in the basement I had the floor finished. Granted I could hardly stand straight.
In the fall of last year I rented a hammer drill from Home Depot and knocked out a hole in my basement for a window. Then in November my dad came down and we started to frame the room.
Due to finances I had to put the job on hold.
In June I decided to take the plunge and get it done. I rented the hammer drill again so that I could move the dryer vent to a better location as the dryer was in the room. I re routed the dryer wire, then built the subfloor. Next came the insualtion and shelving.
I am happy to say that tonight I finished my first coat of drywall mud. By Friday I should be able to begin painting it. Then all I have left is the floor, ceiling tile and baseboards then he should be able to move in there.
He has already picked out his colours. Blue and red (the official colours of the Vancouver canucks)
It has been a lot of fun trying new things out.

Since moving into this house I have learned how to:
- replace toilets
- repair stoves (Thanks Jeff)
- plumb bathtubs
- rewire dryers
- cut out holes in foundation walls
- install new windows
- install new wiring

I wish I could have posted the drastic changes there has been to the basement. It is amazing. After my sons room I am building a games room for my kids to play their gamecube and watch movies, and extra places to play.

Hanging out at Chitek Lake

I was invited out to LT's cabin for the weekend. Things were adventerous. To start things off I got directions from the internet (freetrip.com...I don't reccommend it) and ended up an hour north of Chitek lake. We had to re route via a 90 Km logging road that was wet from a previous nights rain fall. Needless to say that last hour was a little bit harrowing. We accually fishtailed doing 60 but the little echo we were in was good to get us back on track. I went up with another guy from S'toon (Jadon). Late Friday night we were joined by some other of Lt's freinds from Alberta. It was fun hanging out, eating and drinking (MMMMMM....Coke). It is so refreshing to get away and talk about God and our relationship to him and each other. We listened to some good teaching and had meaningful fellowship. Twas fun. I love getting out in to nature, I seem to sense God there.