Let Me Set You Straight

There are apparently some people out there who if you asked them to their face if they were superstitious they would say No...and then in the next breath they do one of my pet peeves of all time...forward chainletters onto people's Facebook walls.

So let me help clarify a few things for those of you who feel the need to forward on those things:

1) No, you do not have to forward on that post so you don't get seven years bad luck
2) No, your crushes name will not appear if you forward that 10 times and press F7 while picking your nose
3) No, you do not need to forward on that post if you love Jesus
4) No, Jesus will not stop loving you if you don't forward it on to 77 other people
5) No, Facebook is not overpopulated and you won't get kicked off if you don't forward it to all your friends

So please save us all the pain of having to delete the chain letters off our walls and just post the funny videos and pictures. I promise you...nothing bad will happen!

(Forward this on to 17 people if you don't believe me..come on, I dare ya!)

Almost Famous

This may be the most famous I ever get. My sister phoned me today to tell me that my picture is on the webpage advertising the 10K run for the 2008 Saskatchewan Marathon! It might be hard to tell it's me due to the blue sunglasses and headphones along with my red Hbc Run for Canada shirt, but trust me...the exhaustion I felt at that point was very real and it is me!

I think I'll sign up again this year! Anyone want to join me?

An Early Sunday Morning

Every once in a while I do something that makes absolutely no sense. This past Sunday was one of them. Normally on Sunday morning my routine is the same. I go to bed late Saturday night and set my alarm for around 9:15am or so. Then when it starts beeping I scramble in the dark trying to find it and after elbowing my wife in the face and knocking over my glass of water on the bedside table I finally feel my fingers grasp it, just to have it fall off the table and get lost in the pile of clothes lying on the floor. After a minute or so of this battle I finally slam my head back against the pillow and wish I could sleep for another hour or so. But I soon realize that although Pillow Creek Community Church has extremely comfortable seats, I just dont' seem to learn much and I force myself into the shower.

But this Sunday was different. The alarm clock battle still happened at what felt like the dawn of time which was in reality around 7:30am (I didn't even know there was a 7:30am on Sunday). Unfortunately I lost the battle with the alarm clock and bolted from bed at 8:00am when I realized I had slept in...I had decided to go to Sunday school. I used to always go to Sunday School at my old church, but since attending this new church I was still in the feeling out stages...which has gone on about 3 years now! So it was time to get involved and today was the day.

I looked in the bulletin ahead of time to see what the topic was..."Living the LIFE at West Portal)". LIFE is an acronym for something (I'm not sure what) and relates to our small groups. They used to be CARE groups, but I guess they figured those groups weren't about caring anymore so they got rid of that :-) I at first thought that maybe only small group leaders could attend, but I figured I'd crash the party if that was the case...wouldn't be the first time! At church I ran into a few people who attended the 1st service and the shock on their faces to see me up at this hour was priceless. I explained to them I was going to Sunday School and they gave me this weird look like I was some kind of pedofile. Realizing what they were thinking I quickly added that I was attending ADULT Sunday School, not stalking the kids at kids Sunday School. The relief on their face was quite evident and I secretly saw them hang up their cell phones from dialing 911.

The class was in Room 112 and being the smart guy I am with a Bachelor of Commerce I knew that in order to find this room I just had to find Rooms 111 and 113 and then enter the room in between. I walked down a hallway and found Room 111...the Library. I then looked to the right and found Room 113...the Men's bathroom. In between those two was about 6" of wall and no door. I was stumped at first, but luckily I had read Harry Potter and knew how they got to the hidden train station. So I took a running start and slammed into that 6" of wall thinking I would magically appear in Room 112. Apparently the designers of the church had not read Harry Potter when they built the place back in the mid 1900's and all I got was a sore forehead and arm as I lay on the floor dazed. A passerby graciously helped me up (what loving people at this church) and directed me to where Room 112 was...clear across the church down a completely different hallway. I sauntered on over there thinking to myself that I should mention to one of the pastors that they might want to try renumbering the rooms.

I walked into the class and immediately sat down at a table. I didn't want to do the typical thing of playing shy because it was my first time there and be all timid. I figured I wanted to get right into things and I sat down right next to this other lady. The pastor there was quite surprised to see a new person in the room and I noticed a few other people frozen in time as they stared at this new person who dared to venture into their Sunday School class. I signed the attendance sheet and watched as the lady beside me signed her name...and one more. I suddenly realized I had sat in her husbands chair but she was too nice to tell me! So I scooted over one and graciously apologized. Now I was facing the complete opposite direction from the front and realized that I was not in a good spot. So off I went to my own table...all alone...so much for getting to know people! Luckily by the time it started two other people who I semi know joined my table and the class began.

I was excited for the topic of "Living the LIFE at West Portal" and couldn't wait to get started. However, as the class began I realized that wasn't today's topic...that had been last weeks topic! Arrgg! I think they should put next weeks Sunday School class into this week's bulletin because by the time anyone reads the bulletin the class is over! Anyways, I digress. The topic was "Let's talk about any of the past topics we've talked about so far." Hmmmm...not such a great topic for someone who is here for the first time! But I wasn't about to let that stop me and at our table I asked what this previous topic on Barbarian Christanity was all about. We had some great discussion on that and we eventually went on to a new topic for that week which was "If God knows everything, why should we pray?" It was a great topic, however all the discussion questions following that just talked about the Lords prayer. So although I didn't feel like we really talked about that topic, I did learn some good stuff about the Lords prayer.

The class ended and we all walked out. The pastor had been talking about this book called "Surprised by Jesus" that a lot of the previous topics had been from and he was putting it back into the library. So I quickly grabbed him after the class and asked to borrow it. So far it's a great book and I'm looking forward to my holidays to start to read it. And in regards to this class, just like the Terminator, "I'll be back!" and I encourage anyone else to also come join me...I'll save you a spot at my table.

The Princess Shop

This really has nothing to do with me and I can't even relate to it, but I just came across it and I think it is a great idea so I wanted to write about it here. Some people in Saskatoon have started an organization called The Princess Shop. Here is what they say they do:

The Princess Shop is a nonprofit organization based in Saskatoon SK and established in 2007. The project's mission is to provide less-fortunate female students with a beautiful gown for their Grade 12 graduation.The founders of the The Princess Shop hope to build confidence in Saskatoon's female youth and create a memorable graduation experience for all girls.The Princess Shop... where princesses prepare for the Royal Ball.

I think this is a great idea. Like I said, I can't really relate because I don't have any old dresses or anything but Grade 12 graduation is such a big day for students and to be able to help those who are a bit less fortunate is such a great idea. If anyone wants to donate no longer worn dresses, bridal dresses, gowns, makeup, jewellery and now they are even taking wedding dresses! They are opening up a drop off spot on 21sts street soon, but for now you can email them at the.princess.shop@shaw.ca to tell them you have a dress or other items for them. They also have a group on Facebook so if you like this idea join the group to show your support.

I sometimes (maybe often depending on who you talk to) wish I was better off than I am. But man, when I really think about it I am so blessed it is unreal. I have a house, a good job, a car, a lovely wife whom I love, a great family and a relationship with my loving God! What could I possibly complain about...the fact that I don't have a larger TV, don't have cable, or don't go on three vacations per year to some hot island? Sometimes I wonder if God looks at me and wonders why I keep asking for blessings as if I've got nothing. Shiela reminds me often that I sometimes get materialistic and I tell her I don't, but when a person looks at what he has compared to so many others and yet still wants more...how can that not be materialistic. I need to be more thankful!

Want To Play Some Sports Over Christmas

There is a tournament on over the Christmas holidays called the Best Athletic Team Challenge. It looks like a lot of fun and if you want to join the team let me know as I have to enter our team by Friday.

The way it works is that you play a variety of different sports including a minimum of one game of volleyball, soccer, floor hockey and then your choice of either Dodgeball or Ultimate Disc. The team will consist of 8-12 players and it is over three days which are Dec 28, 29, 30. Cost would be around $35 if we had 12 people. All games are held at the old Saskatoon Soccer Centre.

So let me know if you want to play! It looks like a ton of fun and a great way to stay in shape over the holidays!

This Says It All

Rant #2 - Don't Stop Me From Celebrating Holidays

I'm tired of hearing about all the people out there who complain about certain holidays and how we can't celebrate them like we want. For example, most stores and restaurants won't say "Merry Christmas" anymore and instead say "Happy Holidays" because not everyone believes in Christmas. For all you people out there who get offended at certain holidays I've got three words for you..."GET OVER IT!"

Yeah, that's right....Get Over It! If you don't believe in Christmas, whatever, but don't make a big stink about it and tell everyone to stop celebrating. If you don't like the fact that airports put up Christmas trees, don't make a stink about it and tell them to take it down (which some people of a certain religion did). Just ignore it and live your life. Nobody is forcing you to look at its beauty.

Obviously we aren't all going to agree with everything, but just let things go sometimes. It's time people stopped fighting for all their "religious rights" and just let everyone live. If it's not normal to wear a scarf when you play soccer, then don't. If you can't show your legs because of your religion, then don't play soccer, don't complain and say you have to be able to wear pants when you play. When people are getting killed in the streets all the time, don't complain when the police tell you not to wear your ceremonially (yet extremely sharp) dagger down the street or into a bar. It really comes down to a safety issue a lot of the time and that needs to trump your religious rights.

I mean seriously, how far is it going to go. Maybe I find it offensive that people wear turbans. Maybe I should make a big stink about it and start knocking off people's turbans because I find it offensive (I won't, but you get the point). Actually, did you hear about the religion that has started in southern Arizona? The religion is based on the fact that God wants you to be healthy by eating right, exercising and not being overweight. The followers of this religion are very strict on what they eat and they exercise daily. That's all fine, but wait until you hear how they witness. These people witness by going out in groups of 4-5 people and walk around until they find someone who is overweight. Then they surround the person and verbally abuse them about their weight and tell them how God won't let them into heaven unless they start eating right, exercising and lose weight. And the police there can't stop it or charge them for this abuse because it is within their religious rights.

Ok, that last bit on the healthy religious group was made up, but you see where I'm going with this. Complaining about your rights all the time because of religion is stupid. If you don't agree with certain holidays, please keep your mouth shut and ignore it. Let the rest of us enjoy our holidays and celebrate it the way we want. Oh, and by the way, "Merry Christmas!"

Rant #1 - CUPE Workers Get Back To Work!

For the last 5 or so weeks the CUPE workers have been on strike in Saskatoon. These are the employees that work at the University such as the janitors, food services, etc. They went on strike because they didn't like what the University was offering them. Keep in mind that these workers already are paid extremely well for the type of work they do. I tried to find an exact number but couldn't, but I've heard through the grapevine that these workers are making around $12-$15 per hour...and that includes those who just make pizza or run the till in the bookstore.

Now I don't know all the details but this is a rant and I'll focus on the aspects that I want. The University offered them a 17% increase in wages and benefits over 3 years. However, 6% of that raise is based on acceptable performance. In other words, if they get a poor performance review they won't get all of that 6%, although they still get the other 11% which works out to 3.67% per year. The union thought this was terrible because they did not think any of it should be based on performance. One of the union reps even said and I loosely quote "tying wage increase to performance is an archaic way of thinking!"

WHAT!! I have never heard such lazy words in my life. So basically, these workers just want to show up to work, do their job (they don't even have to do it well, just show up and pretend to work) and they want a 17% increase. Meanwhile, the rest of us who work for companies have basically all our wage increases tied to performance...if we don't perform they won't be giving us a raise and will probably fire us.

These CUPE workers are some of the laziest people I know of. All they have to do is actually do their job well and they will get their total wage increase. And besides, it's a union, so if they feel the performance review is unfair they can just grieve it and the union will have to prove why they got a low review. It's a perfect system and actually makes these CUPE workers care about their jobs, the university, and the students they are serving. Kudos to President Peter McKinnon for not backing down on that issue as I feel he strongly believes that these workers need to be doing an excellent job in serving the students.

So to any CUPE workers out there....GET BACK TO WORK AND STOP BEING LAZY!!!

Lifehouse's Everything Skit

This skit is really great. I love how it shows that God is always there for us. We can get so distracted with other things and the further we focus on them the harder it appears to get back to Jesus. Yet Jesus is still only a prayer away and although Satan wants us to think he is long gone, He isn't and He is right there waiting for us to come back to Him...and that is when He can step in and fight for us. It's up to us to choose. What a great, powerful and loving Saviour!

Your Favourite Worship Songs

So I'm trying to make a worship CD of all the best worship songs out there right now. And by make I just mean compile the songs on my computer for my own personal listening enjoyment. But I want to know which songs I should include on it. I have a few current favourites, but I'd like some help from anyone who reads this blog. I'd like to know not only what your top 3-5 worship songs are, but also who sings them. There are lots of versions of these worship songs out there and I want to know which ones you like best.

I'll start things off with five of my current favourites:

• You are holy (Prince of Peace) - by Newsong (although the Michael W. Smith version is also really good)
• Beautiful One - Jeremy Camp (I love the intro)
• Till I See You - Hillsong United
• Only One - Hillsong United
• How Great is our God - Chris Tomlin

So let me know in the comments what your favourite ones are! I'd sure love to hear from ya!

When Will Your TV Shows Go Dark

Due to the writers strike our favourite tv shows will soon run out of episodes. If you want to know exactly when your favourite show will be finished, you should probably check it out here.

Party Weekend

I haven't posted much lately because I've been too busy partying! I was in Toronto last weekend for a fun time with some of our Marketing Coordinators from the Hbc Run for Canada. Any Marketing Coordinator that reached their goals of participants, fundraising and volunteers got a trip to Toronto...and I got to be their host (sort of like the blind leading the blind since I don't know Toronto well either! Luckily we had a Toronto person from work help us out)

We had a great time and had a lot of fun. I won't go into all the details but as you can tell by the pictures we:

Did some touring around Kensington Market and Queens Street West

Went to a Toronto Maple Leafs game which was awesome, especially since Toronto beat the Senators!

And then went to a birthday party later on.

It was a great weekend all around and fun to finally meet these people in person. We had the Marketing Coordinators from Victoria, Halifax and St. John's so pretty basically we had people there from coast to coast.

I said goodbye to them all Sunday morning and then I kept on partying...by going to the Eastern Final football game at the Rogers Centre with the owner of TrojanOne, his kids and another guy from work. That was also a great time. I cheered for the Argos just because I couldn't bring myself to cheer for our arch rivals the Bombers. The Argos didn't play all that well which was too bad, but at a couple points in the game the dome got so loud I couldn't hear a thing. That was awesome!

This is the view from my seat at the game.

So now I'm back at home and back at work.

I've Been Inspired...the Full Story (Uncensored!)

A little while ago I wrote a brief little post about being inspired. That was all that was said. Well, after receiving hundreds of comments on it (ok, actually just one, but you know what they say about comments...for every person that comments 99 other people were thinking the same thing!) I decided to post what I was inspired about.

I want to be a humourist.

There. It's out. I've come out of the closet (not in that way though..not that I'm in the closet...ah, forget it)

The person who inspired me was Phil Callaway. I've been a fan of Phil for quite a few years now although I had never read one of his books. And by fan I mean I heard him once at Breakforth a number of years ago, attended his session on learning how to tell a good story, and then completely forgot about him until about 2 weeks ago. That was when I heard that our church, West Portal, was bringing Phil in to speak at our annual Christmas banquet. I immediately got excited to hear him speak again, but like Microsoft Vista every 47 minutes, it eventually crashed on me when I realized I was going to be in BC at that time and wasn't coming back until the day after he spoke. Regardless, I was inspired to do something similar to him...get people all excited and then crush their dreams. No, I'm just kidding. I realized that if there is one thing I think I am good at it is telling and writing stories.

Now many of you who read this blog are probably thinking to yourself, "You? A humourist? The only time I found you funny was when I saw you demonstrating how to do the breakdance move The Worm and it looked more like a beached whale trying to get back to water!" Well, that may be true and you are very much entitled to your opinion. Ironically, the other night Shiela and I were over at some friends and I decided to share this new ambition in my life. And what did they do...they laughed. I mean, I guess that's what I wanted, but I didn't realize I had told a joke yet :-)

For a long time now I've been struggling with what I am good at. I look at all the people around me and wonder why I can't play music or do construction or draw or be a handyman or know things about cars or be creative enough to come up with the concept of The Wiggles and have every kid in the world loving me. Now I'm not wanting to be envious of any of you and I am glad God has gifted all of you with those talents. I've just been wanting to find out what God has gifted me with and use it for Him. I really feel that this is an area I can be good at and feel that God has given me a talent to do this.

So there it is. I'm writing a book and I hope I can make you all laugh by sharing my life experiences. Since I'm sure you'll all want to buy about 10 copies each I'll let you know that it should be out sometime in...oh...let's say sometime in 2008. Oh, and if anyone knows any publishers that want to sign me on already tell them to give me a call (no really, I'm serious).

Why Do Christians Support War?

I'm sure the first thought many of you had after reading that headline was "What ya talkin' bout fool! I don't support war!" And for all I know you are telling the truth. The interesting part though is there are many Christians and others who say war is wrong but we have to protect ourselves so we don't have a choice.

Now I don't have the answers and don't pretend to either. But lucky for you, my friend John Campea has made his first documentary about this very thing entitled Prince of Peace - God of War. The DVD has just come out and you can buy it on his website over here. It has also been shown at two different film festivals in the United States and received great reviews.

I've already ordered my copy and I would encourage all of you to get one too! You can also check out the first 5 minutes of the documentary right here.

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).