Thursday, August 16, 2012

August 16

I can't believe it's been 9 days since I last posted. I think it's because I didn't want to write about living deliberately because it hasn't been very successful for the past week or so. I haven't been careful in my eating, computer time or done anything greatly inspiring. I shouldn't be surprised. I have always been more motivated by extrinsic deadlines and expectations than intrinsic. But here's a brief summary of the ups and downs..

Let's start with the downers: Computer games are a great time-waster. I can sit here for hours and not think, but feel successful because I win -- a lot! But how stupid! It hasn't done anything for anyone, other than giving me eye strain.
I've eaten whatever I want, whenever I want. Granted, we don't buy junk food regularly and just because we bought some to have while camping I shouldn't feel too bad. But it was much too easy to slip into the habit of eating poorly. I've also eaten copious amounts of blueberries....maybe to overcompensate for the junk?

Good things: Gareth and I have now been married for 27 years! We are happily married and work hard at our relationship. We have had numerous conversations lately about how we want to maintain and grow our relationship. As we watch dumbfounded as friends' marriages crumble around us, we are more determined than ever to keep ours up. We are also trying to reach out to others and build a community of people to keep each other accountable.

This year we spent our anniversary attending the Creative World Festival in Mission. What a great way to challenge us in our faith and relationships. We listened to great speakers and musicians. We had stimulating conversations with people intent on living out their faith in tangible ways. It was intimidating, and as we look at possible repercussions of following through, it can be frightening. And yet, Christ did not call us to a live of ease in suburbia, but rather we are called to a life of radical submission to him and in service to those marginalized in society. On one hand, I wish I had taken notes as Peter Rollins, Joyce Rees, Joel McKerrow, Derek Webb and others spoke about what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. And yet, if I had taken notes, I would have missed what they said in the next sentence. Each one of those speakers did not say "This is the way, walk ye in it." Instead, they all shared their experiences and ideas about what it has meant to them to pursue living a Jesus-filled life. In fact, Pete was adamant that we not take his word for it and instead examine our own beliefs. He said he sometimes realizes after he has said something that really, he didn't believe that either! (ie...don't take him or yourself too seriously!)  I look forward to reading and exploring further. I do hope to share some of those explorations in this blog at a further date.

Another good thing has been deliberately encouraging Micah with his friendships. He's had two significant Christian friends this past year and both of them won't be with him in Grade 6. One is moving to Calgary; the other just going to another school in town. Micah asked whether we would be willing to take them camping with us, and so we did. What a great time we had! They had fun and we had fun. I don't know if their parents would ever allow them to come again as we let them do some adventerous things, but hey, no one ended up in hospital! And now they have some bragging rights. :) They have all experienced the "BC Moment" on the Rolley Lake waterfall trail. Don't know what I'm referring to? Guess you'll have to do the trail yourself to find out (or check out my facebook page, I do hope to post pictures!) The boys had so much fun, they continued the campout even after we came home and spent another night together. We will definitely encourage these friendships in the future, and also pray that Micah will again find friends at school that can fill this void now there.

Another good thing is that I will see my daughter on Tuesday! She has been gone since July 3rd and it has been a struggle for me to watch her struggle with her camp ministry this summer. We have skyped a few times, talked on the phone and e-mailed back and forth, but what we both need is a long hug together. And so, on Tuesday in the Calgary airport as I will be flying back from Toronto and she will be flying back from Wpg, we meet in Calgary and will hug and then fly home together from there. :)

Well, that's enough for today. Thanks for listening...

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