Letter to a teenager

On behalf of all the adults around you I would like to say we're sorry.  It used to be that you would hear us greet each other with a friendly "hi, how are you?" and you'd hear the response "fine".  Yeah, I know, bland and meaningless, but positive and polite. These days you are more likely to hear us inhale deeply, sigh, and use an alternative single word: "tired" or "busy". I notice that you have begun to copy our foolish ways and adopt these responses as your standard too.

You see 30 years ago, some brilliant minds invented computers and held out a promise to us that life would become full of glorious pursuits like hiking, playing music, sailing, skiing, that the computers would take the stress out of our lives, do half our work for us, and vastly increase our quality of life. But just as 150 years ago we managed to lose that ideal in the industrial revolution, so we have failed again. Instead of increasing our quality of life we have managed to cram more and more work into each individual's schedule, have become blackberryiphoned during dinner, walks on the beach and family time. We have built the most impressive individualist empires, have squeezed two or three jobs' worth of work into each person's role, and have almost entirely forgotten how to relax. It simply isn't good enough and we're sorry.

You do not need to be "tired" and "busy" to be valid.

Please help us to encourage you to live lives of balance. Work hard and work well, be dedicated and purpose-filled. Have fun. Exercise. Cut down on your screen time, do not feel the need to be on-line 20 hours a day, do not over-program your life. Be a good friend to those around you. And resist, like I do, the temptation to answer the question "how are you?" with "tired" or "busy".

the need for urban retreat

Last week was tough. September is always insane, and this year I thought I was more ready than usual for the onslaught. Apparently not.

School term shifts dynamics for everyone, even if your only experience is a lengthened commute, life is different. This of course is the real new year for anyone in the northern hemisphere of the developed world, Jan doesn't count. As a youthworker with kids, I get double impact, along with teachers and anyone else that works with school terms. Holiday vibe ends and every project that took back seat rushes forward, every meeting that hasn't quite taken place becomes urgent, every event that needs to be organized is suddenly behind schedule, and every young person in the world is plunged into school mode which rocks them and their parents for at least a couple of weeks, until the new rhythm is found.

We had the added dynamic of Joel starting elementary school and Ollie starting preschool which has had a bigger emotional toll than we expected. Last week the reponsibility of these dynamics overwhelmed me and quite simply put me into meltdown: I wanted to run away. Andy suggested a day of retreat away from it all to hang out with God, get some good perspective and input. As I thought about this and looked at the calendar I realized I had the perfect opportunity to head not out of town, but into it: to head downtown and simply be. I type this in a coffee shop in the centre of this most wonderful of cities; I come here to breathe, to watch, to listen, to allow God to speak into my life, to encourage and envision me, and to dwell.

I know we're all wired differently: some of you totally understand this and some can think of nothing worse. Mother Theresa said "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence."  She was and is one of the most inspirational people on the planet, but on that one we disagree.  God for sure is the friend of silence, and Elijah had an amazing "still small voice" moment, but is God really restricted to that?

I love Vancouver deeply, I am so glad and privileged to call this city home, and as I 'randomly' run into the mom of one of the youth I baptized a few weeks ago, as I watch the beautiful young adults of the city cruise around so full of stuff (and yet so devoid of real life), as I listen in on some bizarre conversations around me in the coffee shop, I am spoken to by God, I am recharged and refreshed, envisioned. It's going to be OK.

I know that soon we will all settle down and see September in a better light: it's about more than survival, it's about life in all it's fullness. Some wise guy said it right once in John 10:10, and I'm looking forward to regaining some amazing life, to surf the wave rather than get dragged into the white water.

Back Lane Battleships (TM)

Today, it rained rather well, Vancouver style, in fact it still is. Joel and I have times when we enjoy the rain. If you've been around this blog for a while, you may remember "Rain never stops play". Well today we invented a brand new 'back lane rain game', to allow mom a little space to exist indoors without us throwing things at her and Ollie.

First we each select a sea (puddle) at least 10ft apart in the back lane. Into our sea we place our battleship (6-8" long, plastic boat, yellow in colour for good visibility). We each stand at least 1 foot behind our sea. The game is to kick a football (full size, English) at each other's boat. One hit=1 point.

Joel won, straight sets, 10-6, 5-2

5 things for which I am an evangelist

evangelist - "bringer of good news"

If you find yourself in meaningful conversation with me anywhere, you are likely to hear me talk about one or many of these things. These are my top five areas of evangelism, and I see them all as truly good news!

Jesus

There's a good book you should read about this one, I'll happily introduce you to it. There's also a massive population of people involved in the Jesus story, you should chat to them about their stories. Most of all, Jesus is alive and well and would love a chat. If you're reading this and feeling like he's a bit of a stranger, have a chat, you might get a nice surprise.

Youthwork

It's my job and my life, but also a passion. I've been working with teenagers ever since I was one. I love the culture, the language, the zeal for life, the challenges, the potential in each person, the foundational impact we can have on some amazing lives as we live alongside them.

Getting Things Done

www.davidco.com

This is a difficult one to encapsulate in a short blog post. Imagine a life where you have captured every thought or idea or thing you want to achieve. You organise them, feel like there is way too much to do and you are just way too busy.

OK that was easy to imagine.

Now imagine that at any point in the day you are doing exactly the right thing in that moment, and you know that everything else is just waiting for it's moment to be done or given away, or simply deleted because it really wasn't so important after all. Imagine any interruption to your life, no matter how much of a crisis, does NOT throw you into chaos. Everything can work out OK. And imagine you are able to be WAY more creative, because you're not sinking under piles of TODO lists. Your filing systems and inboxes actually work, your life is not a mess, and you spend almost all your time doing the things you actually want to do.

If you nail the GTD process (Getting Things Done), this is you. It's even quite fun to start and develop!

Apple

www.apple.com

Switching to macbook was a very very very good decision. I love iPods. I love everything apple I touch (hehe). As you know, anyone who is in apple world tends to be an applevangelist. There is a reason for this people!

Google

www.google.ca

Almost every aspect of Google that develops (or is bought out by them!) gets me excited. With one major exception. Google apps, email, docs, calendars, blogger, picasa, youtube. It's a bit worrying that they are getting so into world domination, as competition keeps us all sharp. But, currently, love 'em, they're doing an awesome job.

PS the only truly perfect item on this list is Jesus, the others all have their issues! GTD probably comes a close second on the perfect scale ;)

No doubt some of you will aggressively disagree with my choices, or wonder at the inclusion or exclusion of various items. Feel welcome to comment! I can honestly say that I love each of these things very much, and when you hear me talk about them, it's from that love and passion, not from any sense of obligation, guilt or financial gain. So there you have it.

on finding space

Dad: "so what were you planning to do after zooming cars in the kitchen?"
Joel: "I was wondering if you and me could do some playing together"
Joel: "I thought it would be good if we played in my bedroom, because there's space to walk in between stuff"

Dad tries to think calm thoughts as he gazes at the playroom floor and understands Joel's quite insightful and logical proposal.

a few Anvil 9 09 reflections

This morning we took the 2hr boat ride back from Anvil camp 9 09. I had an amazing week being the speaker, in amongst a fantastic crowd of people. Here I try and capture a few reflections on the camp one line at a time.

on chapel:
- Jesus encounters
- freedom
- the curtain has been torn DOWN
- you make all things work together for my good
- God desires partnership: it's not all him, and it's not all us
- you give and take away
- from the inside out

on island life:
- wakeboarding in the only rain of the week at 7am on a deserted sea
- crazy connections across the christian subculture
- food, glorious food
- two peace-filled kayak moments
- an intense hike to the legendary white spot
- obsession with rope swing tricks

on anvil classics:
- the next bell will be ...
- SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE

on laughter:
- brought to you by: brent kostner, jamilla springs and the incredible betty wordsworth
- the bizarre entertainment of anvil island squares
- horse riding and awkward hugs

on God's creation:
- gazing up into an endless sky of stars
- views of the ocean, playing with the seals
- deers at arms length eating apples
- the most incredible camp finale ever

on praise:
- 9 people met Jesus for the first time, 20ish re-committed their lives, and 9 were baptised

- Anvil Rocks

Christmas Day 2008

awoken (7.15)
stockings
yule log alight
mary and joseph made it to the stable after a long trek
Jesus joins them in the stable by the tree



first cup of tea
presents by the fire (toys, toys, toys)
snacks
toboggan adventure at the park



second cup of tea
snow shovelling in preparation for the big trip for dinner (a whole 20 blocks!)

pics from tom's album: Christmas 2008

snacks
play with toys, open more presents
drive towards ian, tracy and judah's house
car stuck with spinning wheels
car rescued by skillful driving and passing help

boys play, good friends good times - ian, tracy, tim, lissa, tom, liz, erin
much dinner with "two kinds of meat"
plum pudding by tim
drive home with only some skidding
car now immobile until thaw!
igloo roof collapsed

third cup of tea
carols from kings
the queen's christmas message

what a wonderfully happy christmas day
we hope and pray you had a great one

congratulations to henry and diane stevens on their little unnamed baby girl born today. top that as a christmas gift.

what's the difference between a small child and a large corporation?

On the face of it, small children and large corporations are opposites in today's world. One is defined by innocence, curiosity, vulnerability, a small voice in a complicated world. The other is a man-made giant machine that tries to define itself by good values of "customer service", "global improvement", "choice" .. but despite good intentions is always driven by an unhealthy worship of money, and is anything but a quiet voice.

I have spent time in my life working for small children and working for large corporations. I believe in and support each of them, but am often at the mercy of both.

How is is that both small children and large corporations have an equal and well-developed ability to make my blood boil with anger? This morning I exploded into shouting and rather ungodly language thanks to the efforts of each.

Peace, joy and goodwill to all men ...

... forgive me.

nice like batman ..

It was a difficult evening, and important that Joel and I prayed together as he lay down to go to sleep.  Here was his prayer, which brought me to tears.

Dear God, please help Dad and me to be nice to each other, so that everyone else can be nice to each other too, like Batman and Spiderman.  Amen.

Kinda cute, kinda funny, and as you can tell, born out of some "not being very nice to each other".  But I love the stuff that God smiles at in this.  If we live well together, including having a good time of restoration of our relationship before we sleep, and "not letting the sun go down on our anger", and if other people see us living well together, then they will live well together too. 

Joel will soon be 4, and I continue to pray that he and I will be "good news" alongside each other, and keep exercising that rather important "good news" practice of loving our neighbour.  I pray that others will see it, and wonder at it, and want to follow our example as we follow someone else's example: Batman, Spiderman .. or perhaps Jesus'.

my best facebook moment ever

On Monday, I read the status of our friend Sally who is a cool chick that works all over the world helping desperate people out in disaster areas with Tear Fund. We know her from Bristol. Her status said she was in Capetown. So, being a good friend, I mentioned that we have another good friend in Capetown if she needs some local tips. Sally's one of those girls who could be in any country on any continent at any time really.

So then Sally replies on facebook to say .. that friend wouldn't happen to be called Andrew would he? I've not met him, but I'm just about to meet him tomorrow to go on a big motorbike trip up to Namibia to meet a mutual friend of ours, Graham.

The reason why they are doing this is that Graham has finally reached the point where he can complete the big adventure of a 27,000km bike trip from Vancouver to Capetown. Yes, you did read that correctly. Andrew and Graham did this trip last year, but Graham cracked his collarbone around Nairobi. He's now in a place to complete the trip. YAY go Graham.

Point of this post, facebook has made the world a ridiculously small world.

The weird thing is that Andrew and Sally could have probably made this whole trip without ever realising they had mutual friends in Liz and I, that's weird. Facebook was made for moments like this.

If you want to read about one of the coolest adventures you can have on a motorbike, go to www.homeinafrica.net and read and watch more. It's very very cool.