I think I'm Starting to Enjoy This

I'm in the process of taking Phys Ed through Prairie Distance Ed. That means that for 3 times a week, I need to have some form of strenuous exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes. Last week, I biked for 30 minutes, walked for over 3 hours (mowing the lawn), and ran for 30 minutes. You know how it goes. You feel great for the first 5 minutes, ok for the next 10, and then awful for the last 15.

So awful that you wonder why you started in the first place, no sane human being would truly do this to themselves and call it fun. It hurts, you want nothing more than to stop, but because of some invisible source (read: pride) you keep going. You keep going... and going... and going. Every second scrapes past you, taking an eternity to merely get on with it.

And we keep coming back for more.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I spent most of the morning working up to the inevitable 'work-out' that I was going to have to prod myself into later in the day. Deciding to get it over with sooner rather than later, I hopped onto a bike. Ten minutes went by... this isn't so bad, I thought. Maybe it was the iPod... yeah, that must be it. The iPod is making this more enjoyable.

Fool, it's sucking you in.

You're starting to enjoy it. Listen to yourself! You're talking positively as if this were fun when every single aching muscle in your body is BEGGING YOU TO STOP!

I got off. I felt good. There has to be something sinful about that.

Not Long Now

It's been quite the wild ride in the past few weeks. From the copious amounts of travelling I did over Christmas, to the studying I've done over the past few weeks, to preparing for Fiji, there has been no stop to my activities. In the midst of it all, God is faithful in preparing me for what is ahead, and giving me peace in the interm.

Christmas involved times with family and friends. Jordan was coming up to see me and originally planned that we would spend a lot of our time together ahead of Christmas. Unfortunately, that would have displaced a lot of people from their schedules and just made things fairly difficult. Fortunately, God had his hand in the matter and she was able to fly home to Kelowna, and it worked out that we spent more time than she planned together.

I made two trips up to Edmonton over the Christmas holidays, because I wanted to be here in Three Hills for my final Sunday. It gave me the chance to say goodbye as a pastor, and also to see through my duties till the end. The Christmas Eve service was fantastic, and we had nearly 200 people out, which is double what we normally get.

Christmas was spent with my family. We played Xbox, Skipbo, Black Queen and just enjoyed each others company. It's nice to have a family where you can get together and merely enjoy each other, not having to worry about disagreements, but knowing that there is mutual respect and understanding for the history that is there. It was refreshing.

Afterwards, I left with Lorelei, Orlando, Paul and Carys and drove most of the way back to Vancouver with them. Paul and I drove together in my Golf, and had some really awesome conversation through those 8 hours. When we hit Kamloops, I ducked south to Peachland.

The next 4 or 5 days were spent with Jordan. We laughed, saw James Bond, played games with the family, saw friends and got to know each other all over again. It's amazing how much we change in the course of three months, and even though we talked regularly, talking over the phone and internet is very different from seeing one another face to face. It was a great boon to the relationship, and yet another refresher for me.

On the 31st, I drove back to Edmonton, and let's just say it was one of the longest drives I've ever done! Not because of length, but about 7 hours into it, I was just dead tired. When I showed up at my Dad's place, I was safe and sound, but thoroughly exhausted! I'm glad that my friends decided to forgo the sleep over this year and just have a party till just past midnight. My bed was welcome.

The last couple of weeks have been raising funds, talking to friends, and lots and lots of studying. I'm hoping to get one of my courses finished before I leave for Fiji, and while it will be lots of work this week, I believe it's doable. That will put me in good condition to be finished my coursework for an April graduation. Time, however will tell if this is a realistic expectation, or if I'm being flighty. I hope it's the former.

The coming weeks will include flying out to Vancouver for some family time before I leave for Fiji. I leave 10:30 PM on the 25th of January to leave on the biggest adventure of my life so far. It will be challenging and it will force me to grow, but it's exactly where God wants me to be. And if God wants me there, I want to be there!

Disciplines

I'm in the process of reading through a book for one of my Distance Ed courses, The Spirit of the Disciplines. Dallas Willard's look at the importance of spiritual disciplines is enlightening and challenging, because the book does not demand an answer, it demands action.

The entire premise is that Jesus and Paul did not do what they did solely by the grace of God. Rather, it was their daily routines that made all the difference in the world to their spiritual lives. Jesus spent much of his time alone and in prayer, and Paul followed in the same footsteps. Willard asks then... is it any wonder why they had such effective ministries? Perhaps they are tied together!

I'm about halfway through the book, and I'm just getting my feet wet. If you're curious about the importance of fasting, praying, solitude, etc. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book.

Shaping a Worldview

I'm in the process (and it is a process!) of writing my final paper for my Pentateuch course. That involves me doing a whole lot of reading, and trying to get back into the paper writing mode. Thankfully I got through most of my reading work last night, and laid out my outline. But in the process of doing that, something came out loud and clear to me: we need to be cunning.

It is defined in a few different ways. Here are some of the highlights:

1. skill employed in a shrewd or sly manner, as in deceiving; craftiness; guile.
2. adeptness in performance; dexterity: The weaver's hand lost its cunning

One of the major purveyors of the theory of evolution is our lack of understanding. Rather than being wise about how to defend our thoughts against it, we either blindly accept the facts, or we ignorantly deny them. The truth of the matter is that logically, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that raises red flags. One merely has to ask the questions to discover the truth.

So do the reading, dig a little bit deeper, and ask the questions.