So Long '05

Well Wanda and I are in Slave lake enjoying the lack of snow and the abundance of family. Here are a few pictures to show you what we're up to.

Here we are driving up to Wanda's parents house..... just kidding. that's the ice fishing shack out on the lake.

Here we are after a rather "spirited" game of pond hockey.

Frost on the trees. You just don't get stuff like that in the lower mainland.

Just sitting around. Notice the large table. We had 14 of us for dinner so it requires a couple of folding tables to make the whole thing work.

We'll see you all in 06. Thanks for being our friends and loving us. "WE LOVES YA THOUSANDS"

Have I Passed A Milestone??

The Christmas exchange of presents has already happened for me as Wanda & I exchanged last week and my family exchanged this morning (the 24th) in Kamloops (where I am writing from).

I readily admit to being a recovering selfish person. So for all y'all this probably is old hat. But this year I really felt was more excited about giving than receiving (Acts 20:35). Partially it was because we had made a lot more of our gifts this year and many of them had to do with pictures and memories. We felt a little like we were giving gifts that would last.

This thought brings to mind the following Scripture:
1 Corinthians 9:19-27
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.


I hope all my gifts last. My gifts of time. My gifts of money. My gifts of talents. I hope you can say of Wanda & I that our gifts to you will last in your life. We don't want to be flashbangs. We want to be people pf authenticity AND character (see my uprising post).

Merry Christmas. We're heading on to Alberta to Wanda's family's place on the 27th and we'll be back in Van city on January 4th, 2006 (wierd, 2006). I'll probably post from Alberta, if for no other reason than to show you a few pictures of the frozen north.

Christmas Madness

Can you feel it?

The crush of shopping that needs to get done, the fear of offending someone if we don't get to their Christmas party, the feeling in your feet that you get when you've been on them for like 10 hours doing stuff at the church and running around, just waiting for the 24th to get here because at least for a couple of days it will slow down. Ever wonder why they call it a Christmas "season". It feels like summer since I've had any rest.

It's no wonder the Psalmist prefaces knowing God with being still (Psalm 46:10). I wonder if I would appreciate if my wife was so busy on my birthday doing stuff for me or for my party that she had no time for me? I need to be still. I feel kind of like the squirmy kid at church who needs a Game Boy or a millions crayons and paper to keep me quiet.

But wouldn't true stillness be the absence of all those things? Isn't being still about needing nothing but Jesus. That if all I did was just stand perfectly straight for the next 2 hours or sit in a chair and stare at my fireplace or the view off my deck I could experience the presence of God as much as any other way with my own works.

When I think about this it reminds me of my Dad. When I go home and my Dad has something to do he wants me to come help. But when I go to help he usually doen't actually need my help. He just wants me to be there with him. I don't have to know how to fix what he's fixing or weld what he's welding, I just have to stand next to him and just be there. It means something to him.

Maybe God wants us to just stand next to him and be still. He'll do the work. He's the qualified one. We can just talk to him and then brag about how good our Dad is.

Wow. I'm tearing up.

Have a great Christmas season. Don't buy what the world is selling when it comes to being busy. Love your family. If there are little kids around you this Christmas, get down on the floor and play with them and their toys. Love you all!!!!!

A Review of Ann Rice's New Book

A fellow resonate user, Jamie, wrote a review of Ann Rice's new book. Apparently she's published his review on her site so I thought it might be fine reading for us all. Visit his site here .

When I heard that novelist Anne Rice, author of the famous Vampire Chronicles, was writing a novel about the early years of Jesus Christ, I was skeptical. When I read that it was being written in first person from Jesus own perspective, I was intrigued. I had heard that Rice had returned to the Roman Catholic faith of her youth in the late 1990's, but had not followed her life or writing in several years. I picked up the hardcover "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" on my way out to YWAM Vancouver for a week of teaching, expecting an interesting, if not provocative read.

As is my habit, I stayed away from interviews and reviews until I had read the book, wanting to experience the work with as few preconceived ideas as possible. However, with an author such as Rice, it was hard not to expect, well not the worst, as Rice is an excellent writer and a phenomenal historical researcher- I expected something else. As anyone familiar with so much of the material out there that would undermine the nature, character or very historicity of Christ, you'll understand my cynical expectations. What I found in those pages, however, was something far more beautiful. I discovered a very real Jesus, a man, a Messiah, the Son of God.

The novel opens in the streets of Alexandria, where a 7 year old Jesus and his kin have lived for years. Rice paints a vivid and living portrait of the Egypt of Jesus day, exploring the inevitable influences the the culture and philosophy would have had on His childhood. But Egypt is not to be the setting of this story, as Joseph soon announces their planned return to the Holy Land, to visit Jerusalem to worship before returning home to Nazareth.

And so, echoing the ancient story of Israel emerging out of exile, we follow the young Jesus as He journeys to a home He has never seen. Throughout these life altering events, we begin to see glimpses of the power that Jesus is only vaguely beginning to understand. I recognized many of the stories from extra-Biblical sources, which is sure to stir some discontent from more conservative Christian readers. I would encourage such readers to keep reading, as I do not believe that they undermine the integrity of the story or of Jesus. Even Rice acknowledges that these including the material was based on "assumption", but felt it was crucial to the deeper truth of the story. And I agree.

As the family travels through the Holy Land, we are introduced to a deeply politically, spiritually and historically wounded people in the midst of civil unrest. Simultaneously, we begin to understand what it means to be a Jew in that day. With so much of the material on the "historical" Jesus being so ruthlessly geared to undermine Jesus divinity, purpose, being, etc., Rice accomplishes what few have- to present a fully Jewish (fully human) Jesus of His era, yet equally divine, rooted in the fullness of the Judeo-Christian story.

In the authors notes at the end of the book, Rice shares briefly of the journey she took in bringing this book to being. It reveals the depth of study that she delved into (and continues even today) to do everything in her power to tell the truest story she could. To her credit, she read every source she get her hands on, openly expecting to have her image of Jesus distorted.

"What gradually came clear to me was that many of the skeptical arguments- arguments that insisted most of the Gospel were suspect, for, or written too late to be eyewitness accounts- lacked coherence... Absurd conclusions were reached on the basis of little or no data at all." ("Christ the Lord", by Anne Rice, pg 313, Knopf Canada)

However, it was through genuine study that she became even more deeply convinced and committed in her belief of Christ. (As a side note, Rice credits N.T. Wright as the most positive and influential voices of these studies). So truly has this impact changed her that Rice says she could not return to her former subject matter. While she does not condemn her previous works, as they reflect her journey towards faith that many readers shared (myself included), she know that she could not go back. Rice has 3 or 4 more volumes in this series that I am already eagerly anticipated.

In the end, I believe that this book represents one of the best "fictional" presentations of Jesus I have ever encountered. I do not hesitate a moment in recommending it as a must read for all Christians who want to know Jesus in a deeper and truer way, rooted in His rich Jewish culture and history, as well as the ancient-future vision of God's Kingdom.

Don't wait for the paperback. Get it today.

Heart or Character

Which is more valuable? I've been wrestling through this one this week. Erwin McManus in his book Uprising makes the statement that if he had to choose between authenticity or integrity he would choose integrity every time. It's hard to argue with that but how do you have one without the other? How can you be integral without being authentic? And true authenticity will always have a quest for Christlikeness at it's core.

After reading the afore mentioned statement, this is what I took away. Knowing I am a person who values and models authenticity, I want to live a life where people can also see my character. I want people to see the hope that is inside of me.

See..... But even as I say that, I realize I have 2 hopes inside of me, to be like Jesus (integrity) and to be known (authenticity). Well I guess it's safe to say I'm still wrestling through this one.