A Spooky House

As you can see from the pictures we had one of the most decorated houses around this Halloween. Shiela and I had the largest number of Halloween decorations we've ever had on our house before. But having that many decorations obviously comes with a price...wait a minute, no it doesn't! That's right, because every single decoration on our house was actually borrowed to us (and decorated by) our neighbour. She had so many Halloween decorations that she decorated our house too! So although we had the most decorations ever, it was nothing compared to her house.

I thought is was pretty cool...it almost makes me want to go out and buy decorations for next year. But then again, why do that if our neighbor has enough for both of us! So thank you neighbor for lending us the decorations and getting our house into the "mood".

The kids of course loved all the decorations! As I watched through the peephole on our door like a stalker, I even saw one kid not want to come up the stairs of our house because he was too scared (but his mom helped him overcome). Another boy had to be carried up to the door by his dad as he was too scared as well. Ah, what fun...scaring kids so much that they'll probably have nightmares for weeks! Gotta love Halloween.
(pictures are a little blurry as I was trying a different setting on my camera that didn't work too well)

The Future

I think I have been inspired.

My Fear Is Gone

This video has been both hard and amazing for me to watch. I have always been scared of what would happen if we have a baby that was not healthy. Would I still love it as much? Would I become bitter? After watching this video I realized that no matter what our child is like I am going to love him/her a lot! It has completely taken away this fear. Praise God! After seeing the strength and trust my friends have put in God during the loss of their baby girl I know that God will also be there for me no matter what situation we are in when it comes to a child.

Words Can't Express

I usually write on this blog exactly what I'm thinking, but today I am just filled with sorrow for some good friends of mine. I believe these two people are some of the most godly people I know and are a true testament to what it means to trust in God.

I could not write anything that would do this justice, so I ask you to just go here and read their words during this extremely sad time.

The Devil In Saskatoon?

Did you know the devil was in Saskatoon a couple weeks ago?

I missed out on seeing that devil, but I shouldn't be worried because I'll be getting another chance to see the real devil soon...on Halloween! Yep, Halloween is coming along with all the bad that goes with it. Since I've probably offended some people with my previous post I figured I'd put up one more controversial one before getting back to the lighter side of things. Besides, this is just my opinion and I'd love to hear yours in the comments section.


Why is it that some Christians (and others) don't like to celebrate let alone participate in Halloween? They go to work and spend the day explaining to people why they aren't dressed up (yet still take the free candy). Then they rush home, turn off all the lights and hide out in their basement watching TV all night, going deaf with the constant ringing of the doorbell, and periodically peeking through the blinds to see if it's actually darker than normal due to all the evil out there.


The reason I don't see a problem with participating in Halloween is that the day is purely for fun. Yeah, I'm sure the history of Halloween is pure evil and you can read about it here, but the majority of people who celebrate the holiday in Canada are doing it purely for the fun of it (and the fact that us marketers told them they had to do it by dressing up, decorating their houses and buying lots of candy). Now if 80% of the people celebrated the day by actually sacrificing animals and humans to foreign gods, then yes, I could see why we would not want to participate in it. But in Canada, it's a fun day for kids to dress up and get a whole lot of free candy and hopefully a little scared in a fun way.


It's the same thing with some other holidays, only the other way around. We had Christmas and Easter celebrations and the non-Christians took those and turned them into fun holidays. I don't see any of them concerned that they might actually be celebrating Jesus birth by taking the day off. Actually, we seemed to enjoy the new holiday so much that we joined in with the non-Christian celebrations of giving presents and hunting for easter eggs along with celebrating the birth and death of Jesus.


I guess my point is that if you truly think Halloween is so evil that we shouldn't be participating, then shouldn't we also be ignoring the pagan way of celebrating Christmas and Easter too? You've heard my opinion, now let's hear yours in the comments section.

Did You Hear Something?

For those who have heard me rant before, you probably know that when it comes to people "hearing God", I am very skeptical. In the Christian circles I hear it all the time..."God told me it was time to change churches" or "I took this job because God told me to" or "God told me I should date her." I usually just roll my eyes (internally because the person is often looking right at me) and smile and nod.

All that to lead into this ...I decided to try something new at church (this will eventually tie in to the above statement). I am a person who does not like "Greeters". These are the official people who stand at the entrance to the door and shake your hand as you come in. They are official because this is actually their volunteer job and different people do it every week. I dislike it so much that I usually go in the "exit" door (our church has two services so when I go to the second service I just go in the door that most people who attended the first service are going out of). That way I walk in behind the greeters and don't have to shake their hand. Now I'm not against hand shaking, but I just feel it is so insincere. Do these "greeters" really care about me at all? Are they actually happy to see me or are they just doing their job? I've thought that I should try to stop and talk to them sometime as I walk in. I'm sure they would get completely flustered as I'd be in the doorway trying to talk to them and they would be trying to get around me to shake the hands of the other people coming in. I feel like it's an assembly line and there is no real care involved. And don't tell me they are there to help the new people...not once have they asked if I was new or if I attended regularly. Besides, that's what an Information Desk is for.

I feel that we should not have greeters because everyone who attends the church should be doing that all the time. I feel that the regular attenders of the church should be always looking around to see if there are new people there and go and talk to them. To me, that shows true caring because you are seeking me out and actually want to talk to me. Now our church also has "secret greeters" who do just that...their job is to "secretly" be watching out for people and then go and talk to them. That's a step forward, but to me it's still a job and all regular attenders should have that mindset all the time.

So, back to the "hearing God" bit. In order to put my money where my mouth is so to speak, I decided that I was going to try and get to know someone new each time I attend church. Today was the first day to try it. Due to a golf tee time at 11:45am I ended up going to the early service where I practically know no one and Shiela was also out of town so I was on my own. As I was walking up to the church this one guy glanced my way a few times as he walked into the church. I thought maybe I had cut him off on the road as I drove to church and so he was mad at me, but I didn't think I had done that. Then it happened...I thought I should go talk to this guy. This was the guy that God wanted me to talk to. God was telling me to talk to him.

I entered the church and figured maybe if it worked out I'd talk to him. After hanging up my jacket I had to spit out my gum so I walked into the bathroom. Low and behold, right by the door was this guy again, just standing there. I figured he was waiting for his wife or something from the girls bathroom. I walked right past him and didn't say a word. I pretended to get a drink of water and then figured I should really talk to him. So I headed towards him again and at the last minute chickened out again and went the other way down the hallway. The bad part was that this hallway went no where except to one Sunday school room which I obviously wasn't going into. I then had to turn around and walk by him again. Finally I gave in and walked up to him and introduced myself. He didn't say a word but just looked at me. I asked if he usually attended church and he said sometimes. I was at a complete loss as to what to say when suddenly the women's washroom opened up and his wife came out. They immediately walked off but being the stalker I am I rushed after them and introduced myself to the woman. She then told me her name and informed me that she was hearing impaired and that her brother (not husband as I had thought) was with her and she was teaching him sign language (she was very nice about this all). Then they walked into the sanctuary to the front where the church has someone who does sign language for the hearing impaired.

I stood there in the hallway thinking about what just happened. Did God really tell me to go talk to that guy and his sister or did I just think that? Was that my own mind that just made up those coincidences where I kept running into that guy. I mean, he never even really said much to me at all.

So here I am now still skeptical of how God talks to people. Will he really tell me each week who I should go meet? When people say God told them something, did He really or do they just think he did? Am I just hearing impaired when it comes to God's voice? Has God ever told you something? I'd love to hear about it (and no, I won't make fun of it).

Soccer Season is Approaching

Some people have been asking what I've been doing with all my spare time right now. I think this video pretty much explains it (except pretend it's soccer and not hockey!) as the soccer season starts again in a few days.

Celebrity Coach in Saskatchewan?

Ever since Kent Austin came to coach our Saskatchewan Roughriders something has been bothering me. No, it's not that he's white. No, it's not that he's producing a winning team (I like that a lot!) The problem is that every time I saw him on TV in an interview he reminded me of someone. I could never focus on what he was saying because all I could do was try to figure out who he looked like. I've finally narrowed it down to 2 different people and I need your help in figuring out who he looks like.

Is it this guy...Mark Cuban...owner of the Dallas Mavericks and worth about $5 billion or something like that.









Or this guy...Mel Gibson...famous movie actor who can help you claim your "FREEDOM!!"













Let me know in the comments who you think it is....maybe there is some sort of long lost connection here!