My favorite Fiction Books of the year were The Kite Runner and A Complicated Kindness. The Kite Runner was my chosen summer read and for a week I sat in the backyard blubbering away. I'm sure my neighbors thought something terrible had happened to me. One of the marks of a good book is you find yourself mulling over it weeks and months later. I don't want to say too much about the plot because I really want you all to read it but I will say this: at its core, its a story of a friendship between two boys living in Afghanistan. One boy is nobility and the other is not. You can imagine the challenges. There were parts of the book written so well I had to close it and go for a walk. Anyways, if your going to read it, do it before Novemember, that's when the movie comes out.
My other favorite was A Complicated Kindness. My darling wife recommended it to me saying it was incredibly witty, just like you John. Fine, she didn't say just like you John but she could have, which is my point. Now, I'm going to be honest here so don't shoot the messenger but. . my first reaction was "how funny can a book written by a woman be?" I know, I cringed typing that. Angie knew what I was thinking, I have 10 years of marriage to thank for that, because she said " if you're hesitant because its written by a woman, just give it a chance." Looking back, she could have been much meaner. Much meaner. And she would have been totally justified. Anyways, I cracked it open and am so glad I did because rarely have I read a book so witty yet so meaningful and true. It was highly entertaining and yes, moving, and I'll definitely read it again. The WOMAN that wrote it is a Canadian Mennonite living in Winnipeg.
As far as Non Fiction goes, I've read too many to pick just one, but my top 3 would be Blink, Three Cups of Tea, just finishing, and 28, even though I'm only 5 chapters in.
Books I plan to begin shortly are; Bible: A Biography, The World is Flat, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and Pillars of the Earth, my guilty pleasure.
I like books. Books are neat.
John
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
John says hello
15 You Tube videos in the past 3 weeks??? Yikes. Sorry bout that everyone, guess I had a summer crush. Regardless, I figured I should actually write something seeing as a lot has happened.
I joined a quilting club for one . It really helps with the anger management. I'm about 28 squares in. Plus we won the lottery. $2 on a $1 scratch card. We were able to buy 18 blue whales. It was extra income so I dropped 1.8 in the collection bag last week. Other then that I've been baking up a storm and doing pushups every morning.
But enough about me, the biggest thing to report is the kids new schoool. I know I mentioned this a while back but we put the kids in this year. We found a fantastic charter school called Calgary Arts Academy. Its an arts immersion school and may very well be the best way to do school period. Everything is first hand, experiential, and engages all the senses. Couches replace desks, student learning contracts replace homework, passionate teachers replace ones just doing their time. Every time I go there I choke up unable to believe my kids are recieving an experience this good. Its a parents dream to see their kids thriving. I'm a lucky dad indeed.
Besides school, I have been able to get much more socially involved by serving on a the Board of Neighbor-link, an organization that partners with churches to care for the poor. I never believed the day would come where I'd be board material but hey, that's life. Besides Neighborlink I've been working hard with the shelters as we get set for another year of Homeless Partners. We're expecting to interview over 1000 of Calgary's homeless this year. The media is always kind to us so check the news every night. I'm kidding. But still. . .
Other than that, I've just begun my seventh year of youth ministry and am having a great time especially as we plan to return to Tijuana next summer. Cheap drugs there apparently.
Here's something great. We got rid of our van, traded it in for something. . .operational. We invested $6000 into that van this year only to lose it all. Not lying. My anger has subsided thanks to the quilting and our NEW CAR!!! Think Bob Barker and that last line will really come alive. Yes, we got a 2008 Toyota Matrix and couldn't be happier. I'll take some pics soon. I think the Closes may just become Toyota for lifers. (TFL's)
I could tell you more but let's be honest, most of you probably skim anyways so I might as well end here. I plan to write much more now that winter is coming. I hope you do too.
Bring on the Grid Blog!!! I'll start us off with something easy: The best book you read last year and why. Post by next week.
Note: A Grid Blog is where we all write on the same topic with the same deadline.
John
I joined a quilting club for one . It really helps with the anger management. I'm about 28 squares in. Plus we won the lottery. $2 on a $1 scratch card. We were able to buy 18 blue whales. It was extra income so I dropped 1.8 in the collection bag last week. Other then that I've been baking up a storm and doing pushups every morning.
But enough about me, the biggest thing to report is the kids new schoool. I know I mentioned this a while back but we put the kids in this year. We found a fantastic charter school called Calgary Arts Academy. Its an arts immersion school and may very well be the best way to do school period. Everything is first hand, experiential, and engages all the senses. Couches replace desks, student learning contracts replace homework, passionate teachers replace ones just doing their time. Every time I go there I choke up unable to believe my kids are recieving an experience this good. Its a parents dream to see their kids thriving. I'm a lucky dad indeed.
Besides school, I have been able to get much more socially involved by serving on a the Board of Neighbor-link, an organization that partners with churches to care for the poor. I never believed the day would come where I'd be board material but hey, that's life. Besides Neighborlink I've been working hard with the shelters as we get set for another year of Homeless Partners. We're expecting to interview over 1000 of Calgary's homeless this year. The media is always kind to us so check the news every night. I'm kidding. But still. . .
Other than that, I've just begun my seventh year of youth ministry and am having a great time especially as we plan to return to Tijuana next summer. Cheap drugs there apparently.
Here's something great. We got rid of our van, traded it in for something. . .operational. We invested $6000 into that van this year only to lose it all. Not lying. My anger has subsided thanks to the quilting and our NEW CAR!!! Think Bob Barker and that last line will really come alive. Yes, we got a 2008 Toyota Matrix and couldn't be happier. I'll take some pics soon. I think the Closes may just become Toyota for lifers. (TFL's)
I could tell you more but let's be honest, most of you probably skim anyways so I might as well end here. I plan to write much more now that winter is coming. I hope you do too.
Bring on the Grid Blog!!! I'll start us off with something easy: The best book you read last year and why. Post by next week.
Note: A Grid Blog is where we all write on the same topic with the same deadline.
John
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
So true
The way you see people is the way you treat them and the way you treat them is what they become.
- Goethe
- Goethe
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Grid Blog - Belief
Growing up I believed in many things. For instance. . .Santa Claus . I remember Paul Wood threatening to tell Santa I was "naughty" if I didn't hand back his comb I had stolen moments earlier. A comb has never been handed back so quickly, an act, come to think of it, that would have come in handy for our Canadian 4x100 relay team yesterday. I was terrified, though, so I had to, knowing I would be presentless if I didn't. My belief had been that strong.
I remember trembling as Paul Quilliams told me tales of a midget living in the pipes at North Weyburn. He warned if I ever told anyone the midget would know and I'd be dead. For weeks I couldn't sleep terrified of that very small and lethal man. One night, when I couldn't take it anymore, I ran into my parents room and told them all I knew about this midget and his pipes. I shook with terror as I uttered the forbidden words. My belief had been that strong.
I remember skating hard, knowing one day I would play in the NHL. Sure I had started 3 years behind everyone else and couldn't skate backwards if my life depended on it, but that didn't matter because I was right wing and determined to excel. I remember the lemon in my throat the day my coach informed me that "I hadn't made the team." Tears still haven't fallen as hard as they did that day. My belief had been that strong.
I remember believing God was real. If I wasn't reading his words in the bible I was talking to him - out loud even - knowing he was listening to every word. Recently my mom told me that I asked so many questions about heaven she feared it meant I would die young. My belief had been that strong.
Scripture encourages us to believe as a child, for only a child will inherit the kingdom of heaven. But scripture also tells us when we become adults we leave childish things behind us, things like our thoughts and understanding even the things we believe.
For instance, I no longer believe in Santa Claus, the man in the pipes, or that I will play for the Oilers. If I did I would be declared insane and be forced to spend time with a therapist. As far as God goes, I still believe, but not as I once did. Now I only see a dim likeness of things. Paul goes on to say that someday I'll see clearly because what I know now is incomplete. I believe him because that's how I feel. Incomplete. Unsatisfied. Like losing in the 7th game of the Stanley Cup playoffs or finding out mixed vegetables is all that's left at the buffet.
I want my belief to be strong. I want to believe as I once did but I'm no longer sure its up to me. I'm not sure its up to any of us. Sure it is, just believe, one might suggest. Ok then. I'll just believe. Wait. How does one just believe? Close their eyes and concentrate real hard. Repeat over and over"I do believe in fairies I do, I do." I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work even if it did for Peter Pan. In fact, I'm pretty sure all the sincere concentrating or uttering in the world wouldn't change the fact that I do not believe in Santa Claus or that there's a murderous midget living in the pipes. I suppose I could choose to believe in those things in order to score more presents at Christmas time or scare someone else with tales of lethal midgets but in the end, all my choosing to believe would accomplish is the deceit of everyone, including myself. This brings me to my point. Finally.
When it comes to beliefs, we don't choose them, they choose us. We either believe in something or we don't. People don't choose to believe in God. They either lie and say they do when they really don't or they pretend like they don't when they secretly do. At no point do they choose because in order to believe in something a person must first be convicted by that something. And conviction is never the result of choice. Its either there or its not.
Have you ever tried to cheer for a different sports team just because you moved? Ever try to convince yourself someone is a good friend when you know they actually aren't? Ever try to get passionate about helping the poor because you thought you should be or because Brad Pitt is? Ever try to convince yourself that special someone was right for you? Ever try to still believe in Santa Claus? How does it feel when you try to believe in something?
As human beings we think we can fake belief but we end up decieving ourselves. Belief is a result of something that wells up deep inside us when the time is right. Like going to Uganda for instance. Before they left, Kris and Tyler and Kori may have chosen to believe that serving the poor was important, but based on conversations and blogs I've had with them since, its obvious they now believe. Is it because they chose to believe? Or did their conviction overwhelm them and the belief chose them? I am at a point in my life where I am slowly returning to the belief of my childhood. Belief is beginning to choose me once again and my relationship with God is climbing to heights yet unseen.
So what are you to do? Wait for the belief moment to come or choose to believe now?
While your deciding take comfort from these words of Goethe.
"Let us seek to fathom those things that are fathomable and reserve those things that are unfathomable for reverence and quietude."
John
I remember trembling as Paul Quilliams told me tales of a midget living in the pipes at North Weyburn. He warned if I ever told anyone the midget would know and I'd be dead. For weeks I couldn't sleep terrified of that very small and lethal man. One night, when I couldn't take it anymore, I ran into my parents room and told them all I knew about this midget and his pipes. I shook with terror as I uttered the forbidden words. My belief had been that strong.
I remember skating hard, knowing one day I would play in the NHL. Sure I had started 3 years behind everyone else and couldn't skate backwards if my life depended on it, but that didn't matter because I was right wing and determined to excel. I remember the lemon in my throat the day my coach informed me that "I hadn't made the team." Tears still haven't fallen as hard as they did that day. My belief had been that strong.
I remember believing God was real. If I wasn't reading his words in the bible I was talking to him - out loud even - knowing he was listening to every word. Recently my mom told me that I asked so many questions about heaven she feared it meant I would die young. My belief had been that strong.
Scripture encourages us to believe as a child, for only a child will inherit the kingdom of heaven. But scripture also tells us when we become adults we leave childish things behind us, things like our thoughts and understanding even the things we believe.
For instance, I no longer believe in Santa Claus, the man in the pipes, or that I will play for the Oilers. If I did I would be declared insane and be forced to spend time with a therapist. As far as God goes, I still believe, but not as I once did. Now I only see a dim likeness of things. Paul goes on to say that someday I'll see clearly because what I know now is incomplete. I believe him because that's how I feel. Incomplete. Unsatisfied. Like losing in the 7th game of the Stanley Cup playoffs or finding out mixed vegetables is all that's left at the buffet.
I want my belief to be strong. I want to believe as I once did but I'm no longer sure its up to me. I'm not sure its up to any of us. Sure it is, just believe, one might suggest. Ok then. I'll just believe. Wait. How does one just believe? Close their eyes and concentrate real hard. Repeat over and over"I do believe in fairies I do, I do." I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work even if it did for Peter Pan. In fact, I'm pretty sure all the sincere concentrating or uttering in the world wouldn't change the fact that I do not believe in Santa Claus or that there's a murderous midget living in the pipes. I suppose I could choose to believe in those things in order to score more presents at Christmas time or scare someone else with tales of lethal midgets but in the end, all my choosing to believe would accomplish is the deceit of everyone, including myself. This brings me to my point. Finally.
When it comes to beliefs, we don't choose them, they choose us. We either believe in something or we don't. People don't choose to believe in God. They either lie and say they do when they really don't or they pretend like they don't when they secretly do. At no point do they choose because in order to believe in something a person must first be convicted by that something. And conviction is never the result of choice. Its either there or its not.
Have you ever tried to cheer for a different sports team just because you moved? Ever try to convince yourself someone is a good friend when you know they actually aren't? Ever try to get passionate about helping the poor because you thought you should be or because Brad Pitt is? Ever try to convince yourself that special someone was right for you? Ever try to still believe in Santa Claus? How does it feel when you try to believe in something?
As human beings we think we can fake belief but we end up decieving ourselves. Belief is a result of something that wells up deep inside us when the time is right. Like going to Uganda for instance. Before they left, Kris and Tyler and Kori may have chosen to believe that serving the poor was important, but based on conversations and blogs I've had with them since, its obvious they now believe. Is it because they chose to believe? Or did their conviction overwhelm them and the belief chose them? I am at a point in my life where I am slowly returning to the belief of my childhood. Belief is beginning to choose me once again and my relationship with God is climbing to heights yet unseen.
So what are you to do? Wait for the belief moment to come or choose to believe now?
While your deciding take comfort from these words of Goethe.
"Let us seek to fathom those things that are fathomable and reserve those things that are unfathomable for reverence and quietude."
John
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