My favourite time of year

The fall is here and I'm extoked (word created by Slick by combining excited and stoked together)! I'm especially extoked about firing up the wood stove again.

With the fall colours again, I'm reminded of how creation is so fascinating and how I love being outdoors! This past weekend I was at a retreat and we were blessed with great weather, great fellowship and wonderful teaching! Thanks Rod A. - I can listen to you talk all day long! Special shout out to Sarah B. for helping cook. You are a lifesaver to all the staff. =)

Intense

Last night, Deb and I took in Bourne Ultimatum and it was intense. For most of the movie, I was jumpy as the scenes flew by and the action intensified. I really like what Damon and the crew have done with the movies even though the last two have nothing to do with the books that Robert Ludlum wrote.

What I liked about the movies is that Bourne always knows the next step, planning ahead, and pulling it off while looking cool throughout. And Matt Damon is a good actor.

Too bad this is the last of the Bourne series.

Criss crossed the country

Well, after criss crossing the country... twice... , I am glad to be home. After a trip to Calgary, Abbotsford and Whistler, we arrived home for a week before driving from home to Toronto, then to Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Banff, Vernon, Kelowna, and then Vancouver. Being home, I must say Halifax is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. Here are my top 5 pictures:

Windmill in Eau Claire market, Calgary, AB

Playing basketball with my brother, Calgary, AB

Deb in sunflower field near Winnipeg, MB

Monument to Saskatoon Settlers, Saskatoon, SK
(I like it because it is one of the few night shots I took with a tripod and it turned out okay)

Elk on highway 93 between Jasper and Banff, AB
(I like this one because captured the elk on the car side mirror - artistic)

There are many more pictures, but these are the ones I liked from the limited time I had on Deb's computer. She has all the pics on her computer ... (and thus all the pics on facebook!). =)

In and Out

This summer has been a whirlwind of traveling and crisscrossing the country. After staying in Calgary for support, we headed out to BC for staff training (phenomenal!) and a conference (great speakers) and then heading back to home.

Now, we prepare to head out to Toronto for a friend's wedding and have a driving vacation to Vancouver with some friends. Crazy - but I'm really looking towards it.

One of the things I learned on this past trip was the importance on defining what following Jesus really means. There seems to be a movement in Christianity where Christians are trying to be culturally relevant but along the way, their view of God and Scriptures are being lowered and they inch along to liberalism.

Mark Driscoll, our speaker at conference, rightly pointed out that we can not let culture influence our theology, but at the same time interact with culture so that we are relevant. We need the open hand - closed hand approach. We need to discern what we can let go and what we can't change in terms of our view of Jesus, the Trinity, Scripture and other tenets of faith.

More on this later...

My Wife Knows All the Songs on Radio

At least on LITE 96 in Calgary. It amazes me that she can just pick up a tune and remember it. I don't have that kind of memory. However, I do have a memory when it comes to playing video games.

Recently, I played Super Mario Bros. 3 with a co-worker and it was amazing how we could remember where the 1UPs were and the secret rooms to pick up flutes, hammers and other goodies that help Mario rescue Princess Peach. Why can't I remember Bible verses and where I put my headphones?

I guess there is such thing as selective memory...

Car Sightings

It has been one year since I have been back to my hometown Calgary, but I can see how much one year and a robust economy can change a city. Just being back for 3 days, I have seen 3 different Corvettes and 2 different Mazda RX8s (not to mention other nice cars - but they didn't stand out as much as these ones). Crazy.

Post Project Post

Finally on vacation time! Not that I was looking forward to vacation time as I had a very fun time this past summer, but it is good to rest, sleep in, do some house work, and not have to worry what is the next thing to do.

What to post after such a long time? Well, since I hate reading really long blogs, I will do a 7 pic post of what happened the last 6 weeks (kudos to Timmy Shree for the idea).

Orientation team building exercise

Training

Getting ready to go out into the city

PEI trip

The gang

Great friends and fun times! Missing from pic: Rod