My Wifey!!

It has been about a month and half since I married this gorgeous girl. The reason it took me so long is because apparently when Em and I do something big in our lives we decide to do a whole bunch of big things at once. I got a new job, married the girl of my dreams, and then moved us 8 hours north! It has been nothing short of an amazing adventure. But when I think about doing all of this without Emma-lee...none of it seems worth it. Coming home from a long day/night at work to my amazing wife makes everything better and worth while. This adventure would just be cold and lonely if it was without her. Emma-lee, I love you infinity and beyond!! you are my favourite thing in the entire world. I don't know what other adventures God has in store for us, but I cant wait to face them with you by my side!!
Love ya babe!!

Rio Vida

I have been living in Spain for about three weeks now and attending a Bible school here called Rio Vida. This has easily been the biggest adventure of my life so far. Admittedly, I was nervous about the whole thing; Bible school because I didn't know what to expect having never been and was nervous about my Bible knowledge, the people, etc. And was nervous about living in a foreign country for almost three months on top of going to Bible school. However, the nervousness was greatly overshadowed by the excitement in going on this adventure.
       Three weeks in and I can already say that my expectations or lack of have been well exceeded and has already been the time of my life. The country of Spain is absolutely beautiful. We have travelled to some of the surrounding towns and landscapes and they only seem to get better. There is an amazing contrast between the tropical beaches and the spectacular mountain ranges that is just breath-taking. This country is thick with history and a unique and wonderful culture, but there is really nothing like the food, specifically the pizza, here!
       As amazing as Spain is, the area where my expectations have been blown away is the Bible school itself and the people within it. I immediately knew on the first day when I was greeted at the airport by out director that it would not be the country, the weather, the landmarks, or the food that changes my life, but through the people. Our director set incredibly high standards for anyone else I met as he is just one of the most kind and loving people you will meet. This man and his family show us compassion and love every day to every student and this creates an atmosphere fuelled by the grace and love of God.
       But then I met the students and again my expectations were exceeded. Each and every student here has the light of God within them and it is so evident and they came here to have fun and adventures, but ultimately to grow with God and I see this every day. I can confidently say that I have built some amazing friendships and come to know some incredible, hilarious, generous, and God-loving people. I have come to believe that one of the most important aspects of Bible school are the bonds and connections that you form with other people through the conversations you have, the stories you tell, the games you play, and the laughs you share. It is through these friendships that you see the love and power of God through our shared individual experiences that we learn from and together as a group we learn how to live a life for God; not boring, clean, pretty, and well-preserved, but an adventurous, joyful, bold, extravagant, God-glorifying life!

Proverbs

God created man. He created Rich Man and Poor Man.
       Rich Man lived in a beautiful castle that reached the height of the clouds; it was filled with only the finest foods and the food was plenty. He slept in a warm bed and never went cold. All of his desires were met.
       Poor Man lived in the slums. He went hungry. Spent the nights in the cold. He desired little and received little.
       Rich Man saw himself as superior than Poor Man and in turn never interacted with him and refused to shelter or feed him even though it was very much within his capability. Because they were never together they were constantly alone. In loneliness they found despair. There was a way out of their dark places, but they did not know how nor had the knowledge that such was possible.
       God created Wisdom. Wisdom looked like them, sounded like them, but did not act like them. Wisdom was righteous and justified, Wisdom knew right from wrong, good from evil. Wisdom was humble and had honor, was not foolish, listened to her creator and followed his law. She was faithful and honest, she did not boast, but first and foremost she sought ONLY to spread the knowledge of the Love of God.
       Wisdom went to Rich Man with sole desire to share the knowledge of her creator. She knocked on the door and Rich Man answered; as soon as the door opened she immediately began to share, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not..." and the door was slammed on her face.
      Wisdom then went to Poor Man where he was sleeping on the streets. She knelt beside him and said "The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked suffers want" (Prov. 13:25). Poor Man lifted his head for only a moment and lay back down. Wisdom pleaded that all of his desires would be filled through the knowledge she could share, but he wouldn't have it.
      Wisdom never quit. She went to the centre of the village and began to cry out: "To you, O men, I call, and my call is to the children of man. O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense. Hear, for I will speak noble things and from my lips will come what is right" (Prov. 8:4-6). She went on and on without ceasing, constantly crying out through the town. Hours went by until she finally saw Poor Man walking up the street towards her. With joyous arms she greeted him and he received the greeting not denying it. He sat and she shared until the very life and meaning of Wisdom was ingrained within Poor Man. Poor Man never became rich, yet all of his desires were met until his only desire was to know God more.
       Time went by while Rich Man only grew lonelier. He had everything in the world yet was oddly unhappy. For weeks the only thing he could think of was the few words he heard from Wisdom, "Trust in the Lord". Time went on to the point where his only desire was to hear the words Wisdom intended to share in its fullness.
       Rich Man left his castle and followed the cries of Wisdom as she continued to share throughout the village. He came upon Poor Man sitting in front of her as she shared. Wisdom stopped as she saw him approaching, he made his way to Poor Man and sat down beside him. Wisdom smiled and began to speak, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Prov. 3:5-6)

what a difference a day makes...

Success, wealth, work, and loneliness...this was his life. It wasn't the one he envisioned, but it was one he learned to accept. He had few friends because he was constantly working. He didn't have a family because he didn't have time to meet anyone. He hadn't been in a relationship since high school, she didn't understand why he had to join the military, but he felt it was his only option. Even if he did meet someone he couldn't be that guy for them. Perhaps that's because of the military. He joined right out of high school. He came back a different guy to a different world, one he felt out of place in, so he buried himself in his work. It brought him success, but no one to share it with.

Everyday he wakes up at the same time and does the same routine. He does his exercises, showers, chooses a suit, has breakfast (oatmeal...eggs if he's feeling adventurous), watches the news for about ten minutes, and then drives to work with time to spare. He does this everyday...except today. Today was unlike the rest. He slept through his alarm and woke up much later than he should. His entire routine was disorganized; he rushed into his car and sped out of the parking garage, as he was turning onto the road in the middle of rush hour he cut somebody off and pulled in front of them, he didn't see the kid on the skateboarder coming up on the other side of the driver, he went too far out into the other lane and hit the kid on the skateboard.

Panic ran through his body. He didn't know what to do. It felt like it had been ten minutes that he sat in his car hoping he was alright; it must have only been a minute or so because the boy stumbled to his feet with just a few cuts and bruises. From inside his car he looked pretty upset and was yelling though he couldn't hear what he was saying inside his car. He opened the door and heard the flurry of curse words mixed with some slang insults that he was not familiar with, but he got the point. It was only until he approached the boy that he realized he wasn't upset about being hit, but rather the fact his skateboard was now in several pieces. As he got closer to the boy the insults were now directed at him. He tried to apologize and offered to drive him to the hospital, but the boy refused. He hesitantly asked if he wanted to involve the police, the boys response was a special finger. He gathered the scattered skateboard and began walking on an intersecting street. Traffic was beginning to flow again, so he got back in his car. He thought about just going to work, he could still get there on time.

He began driving, only to turn down the street he saw the skateboarder go. He only had to travel a few blocks until he saw him. He pulled over and yelled him over. It took some convincing and grudging acceptance, but the boy allowed him to take him back home. It had been about five minutes in the car and neither one of them said a word. He tried to brake the silence with some small talk:
"What's your name?"
"Oliver"
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen"
"What do you do for fun?"
He held up the broken skateboard.
"What do your parents do?"
"Just my Mom"
"I'm sorry about that"

He found himself very anxious and worried, but it wasn't for his job...it was for the boy. He spent the majority of his life having to care for only himself, so having someone else to worry about made him feel uneasy. He wanted to know more about him, but didn't know how to start. It was a relief to him when the boy started asking him questions:
"What do you do?"
"I'm a financial adviser"
"That doesn't sound very fun"
He was about to defend his job and try to explain why he enjoyed it, but that would be a lie.
"Its not"
"So why do you do it?"
"I don't know", that was the truth. He really didn't know why he still worked there. Perhaps it just occupied his time and more importantly his mind. "What do you want to be?"
"A cop maybe, I think I would enjoy that. I've thought about joining the military after high school."
"What does your Mom think about that?"
"She hates it, but its not up to her."
He thought about what the military did to him and how it changed him and he didn't want that for the kid. He didn't know him, but he didn't need to. It wasn't just the things he saw in the service, but just being away and the people he left behind. When he joined he didn't take in account that everyone that loved him was affected. He thought of this kids Mom and how she would be affected if he joined. His anxiety increased. There was a long pause before he responded..."I think being cop would be pretty awesome".

They approached his house and the kid gathered up the pieces of the skateboard and got out of the car. He apologized again for hitting him and offered his help to him in whatever way possible. He didn't know why, but he felt sad to see the boy leave. It wasn't until that moment that he thought about work and was still in no hurry to return. Work had been the only thing he cared about for so many years, but it felt secondary now. He was about to pull back onto the road when he heard a knock on his window. He saw the kid standing outside the car and rolled it down.
"Do you want to come in for a drink or something and meet my Mom?"
"Yes I do", he was surprised by his answer and how quick he responded, but happy with it as well.
They approached the house, the boy opened the door to find his Mom on the other side. She was clearly a good Mom because she was immediately distraught when she heard what happened. She finally stopped hugging him and turned to greet the man in her doorway. His heart sunk when he saw her face. He often imagined what she would look like now; to him she looked the exact same. He was standing in front of the girl that he abandoned for the military...16 years ago.

Getting Old

I think that I've posted about The Guardian before, however, I recently watched it again and there was one scene that really stuck out to me that I hadn't noticed before. For those who haven't seen the movie it is about a rescue swimmer for the United States Coast Guard who's co-worker and friend dies at sea. He is forced to take a leave of absence and teach at the training facility; while there he gets divorce papers sent to him by his wife who can no longer come second to his job which he has dedicated his life to. In this scene that stuck out he goes to a local bar one night where he is close friends with the owner and divulges to her his troubles: his best friend died, his wife wants a divorce, and he is trying to show himself he is capable of doing certain things despite his age. After she places an ice-pack on his blown-out shoulder he asks her with a slight chuckle, "when the heck did we get old?". It is after this that the magic happens. She goes on to tell him that being old isn't necessarily a bad thing; "Hell, I've always been old Ben, you know what though, I don't mind. If my muscles ache its because I used them, its hard for me to walk up them steps now because I walked up them every night to lay next to a man that loved me. I got a few wrinkles here and there, but I layed under thousand of skies on sunny days, yeah, I look and feel this way...well cause I drank and I smoked, I lived and I loved, I danced, sang, sweat, and screwed my way through a pretty damn good life. Getting old aint bad...getting old...that's earned." This old ladies raspy voice and harsh language cuts through the crap and gets to the good stuff. I was a little shocked at myself for not noticing this little gem the first time I watched this movie; but than I thought that perhaps I didn't notice it because it wasn't old enough to understand it. Now I realize the twenty-two is not very old, but its old enough to start experiencing life and what it has to offer, good and bad. I love her take on life. Most everyone sees ageing as this horrible experience that each person has to endure at some point in time. But from her perspective we get to be old, its a sign that we've lived. My dad has a permanently messed up nose because he broke it so many times from playing hockey his whole life, playing rugby, football, and having fun. That broken nose is a sign of the memories he's made. From her life point-of-view the bumps and bruises that we get along the way aren't signs of failure and mistakes or blemishes, they are signs that that life has been earned.
https://youtu.be/3iaXQ1U7EBg

Cannot Keep You

I was recently introduced to this song "Cannot Keep You" by Michael Gungor and immediately felt very convicted by it. The song is speaking on how we as Christians cannot keep God within our little confines and within our walls that we have boxed him in with, secluded from the rest of the world. We cannot keep God in our Church, in our homes, and in our little communities. And when I say Church I mean your local chapel because I think Church is so much more than a building and a Sunday morning destination. Church can be anywhere it has to be whether that is in a Chapel or in the streets among the homeless. I believe that is what Michael Gungor is saying; that we cannot and should not keep God in the safe places set out for us. He should be found in the highest office of the tallest skyscraper to the lowest and dumpiest part of the city. One of the lines in the song is "so we will find you in the streets and we will find you in the prisons". We should be able to find God in every nook and cranny of the world; in our ever day world among our workplace and in the undesired places that people fear. His lyrics are telling us that we have this secret that we share among ourselves, but should be shouted from the rooftops and expressed in our entire being. Before this song I had been feeling this push towards the idea of inner-city ministry and helping those in need within our country both physically and spiritually. Hearing this song has made that push even stronger and I hope it continues to get stronger until it is a reality so all of this is not just talk because I will be the first to admit my fault in not expressing my faith in the capacity that I should. When you meet me you should know there is something different about me than everyone else and unfortunately that is not the case, but I pray one day it shall be.

A Silver Lining

I just watched Silver Linings Playbook. As I was watching it reminded me of the song Unwell by Matchbox Twenty. The song is about how he is a little crazy; how everyone is a little nuts. I find that really relates to this movie because it is about two people who, to the rest of the world, are completely crazy and need medical help (which they recieve). However, you learn that though they are the only ones that are medically diagnosed as crazy, everyone in their lives are just as bonkers, if not more. In Pat's life, his father is obsessed with the Philadelphia Eagles and has an unhealthy superstition about the team and his son as their luck charm. His brother has insecurities about every aspect of his life and seems more unstable than his formally institutionalized brother. His best friend has a horrible marriage that only survives from the advise of Pat himself who beat the crap out his wife's lover. And his best friends wife is controlling, manipulative, full of hatred and self-loathing that she projects onto her little sister, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). It goes to show that though not everyone is daily medicating to keep the crazy down doesn't mean we all don't sometimes belong in the looney bin.
What I love most about this movie is that it is an alternative romantic comedy, but has a typical love story ending. It is weird which makes it so amazing. Nowadays it seems that every romantic movie or movie about love that wants to be considered as a "good" film has to have some sort of depressing ending. Don't get me wrong I love the not-so-normal ending to a typical love story just as much as the next guy, but for a movie like this you would expect the ending to be strange and out of the ordinary like the rest of the film. Instead it did exactly the opposite and had an incredibly normal and happy ending which made it extraordinary. Any other possibility would have changed the whole dynamic of the film because it shows that the fact that they are real people is what makes their love so true.
Their dance at the end of the movie explains their love story in the matter of several minutes: it's weird and unorthodox, it looks strange and makes other people uncomfortable, its funky and not what the world says that it should be, while at the same time it is beautiful and utterly pure.