Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.

[Warning: The following is long and written by one learning to be wise; one who is not quite there yet. This writer does not intend to offend any group of people. The following contains information about the writer that you may never have known. This writer does not support the use of drugs or any other mind-altering substances. This writer does, however, support the use of a dictionary.]

I love the dictionary. I remember this girl from my elementary school, her name was Caitlin, and there was a rumour going around that not only did she read the dictionary, but she read it for fun. As a child, this seemed ludicrous... but now as an adult, I actually know what ludicrous means, and how to spell it.
You see, the dictionary is our friend, our link to understanding the language we speak: and it has helped me greatly tonight.
Tonight we had our young adults bible study, and one of the passages we studied was Proverbs 13:20. I find The Message captures the true essence of this verse's meaning for me and my life:

"Become wise by walking with the wise;
hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces."

A few posts ago, I talked about water and how I had to adjust to it, and I suggested that it is the same way within the context of my relationship with God. A couple of days ago I started to think about that concept in reverse: what happens to us when we are surrounded by negativity and sin. The more and more we are around it, the less and less harmful or bad it seems. I mean, it's completely the way that people, for example, start into drugs (at least in my past experience).
When I was 12, I didn't want to drink let alone do drugs. I even wrote in my journal about how I was going to stay away from drugs, I was never going to try them, not even once because they were trouble, bad people did them, I could get addicted.
Then, I went to high school. Drinking was definitely not an issue, "everyone does that" (so it seemed), but still, I lacked the desire for drugs.
But, the more I heard people talk about it, the less wrong it seemed. And so, I decided to do it. And it didn't seem too bad, so wrong. All those commercials about it "ruining your life"... but, at that time, it didn't seem that way to me. So I keep trying it until suddenly my life seemed to revolve around it, I could be honest with hardly anyone, I had to hide my life because I was getting high almost every night.

But that's what everyone else is doing, right? It's not even that big of a deal, right?

Well, one day I decided that it was a big deal, and not everyone was doing it, and even if everyone was doing it, I didn't care because I knew that God had a different plan for me.
I made a choice to change my life that day. I'd been going to church a bit, but now I started to hang out more with those "churchie" people. Those people who seemed pretty geeky and uncool because they didn't have cool shoes or listen to good music or care about fashion, and they've "probably never experienced anything" anyway.
Regardless of my former opinions, this shift guided me toward truth, toward God, toward life. (This isn't to say that my old friends are responsible for the mess I had made of my life, or that those "churchie" people are responsible for the changes that I've made. But both have had a definite influence.)

"Become wise by walking with the wise;
hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces."

wise - adj. - having the ability to discern what is true, right, or lasting.

fool - adj. - one who is deficient in judgment, sense or understanding.

You see, my old friends and I weren't idiots (which is what I always thought fool meant); we simply lacked sagacity. We lacked experience. We didn't know. And when a group of people who don't know any better get together... well, we all have our own stories.
Now I know it's important to surround myself with wisdom, which doesn't mean that I know it all, or that other followers know it all, but rather that I want to be around those with a keen discernment, those "evidencing or hinting at the possession of inside information" (Merriam Webster), so that I may also be that way.
The dictionary has helped me to understand Proverbs 13:20 more fully. It seems as though Caitlin, the dictionary reader, knew something that I didn't: the dictionary is a wealth of knowledge.

"Become wise by walking with the wise;"

That's what I'm aiming for. Becoming wise by talking a long walk through life with a real wise guy: Jesus. Jesus, the link to understanding the world we live in, and how to handle it.

Save A Duck

So this weekend was here and gone like THAT. Today I went for lunch at the Blue Fox with Crystal, Marley, Hannah, and Lori Ashby (visiting from Calgary). Then we went to Mount Douglas and hiked up to the top. There was a great view, but I was hurting a) because I'm sick and b) because I'm out of shape. But it was great. Too bad I didn't have a camera. I guess you'll have to come here and see for yourself!

So the other day I was having one of those days, and I saw somebody who seemed to have it all. I started to feel envious of this person and I started to feel inadequate because of how she looked and the things she had and even just the things that she claimed to be interested in.

I hate when I let myself feel inferior to other people: those times that I feel the need to "be" cooler, have nicer clothes, have some amazing and unique talent, have a better camera or some other cutting-edge electronic device, have cool pens to write with or a new haircut or color or piercing or headband or shoes or dreadlocks. Or a cooler apartment or a degree or something, anything that I could associate myself with that would somehow elevate me to the perceived level of "other people".

Could my desire for "better things" be a result of mass media and subliminal messages therein? Someone is good at their job, and in the meantime, people everywhere are spiraling into the obsession of accumulation.

Cynical, maybe.

But how can I let myself fall into that cleverly devised trap when I know that we as people are all the same? Why is it that I so desire these things when I know they are arbitrary and contribute nothing to the world, and possibly have only complicated things? I invest my money, my time, my heart into accumulating, into maintaining an appearance, for what? So people I don't know can think I look cool on myspace, on the street, in a coffee shop? So they can see me and feel inferior?

How could I forget that I am beautiful because God designed me: He chose my eyes, my hair, he sprinkled me with freckles because it was exactly how he wanted me to be. And he designed other people because that's exactly how he wanted them to be.

Peter (the apostle) says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful" 1 Peter 3:3-5.

This verse resonates within my soul and calms my longing heart, because deep within I know that investing myself in my spirit, perfecting my soul, beautifying my inner self far surpasses the pale, pale superficial, meaningless world that I flirt with.

Trends come and go, cutting-edge is relative, and outer beauty only fades, but your spirit is timeless. Stand up and against those feelings of inadequacy, don't give in when the media tells you who to be.

Commit yourself to developing a beautiful spirit of great worth in God's sight.

whether the weather be fine

So, I heard that today in Saskatchewan it was -42, with a possibility of -50. I entertained the thought of posting a picture of Pete mowing the lawn in his shorts... but decided it would be almost too cruel. Besides, it wouldn't be true, it was cold here today too... with a low of 4 degrees.

Today I went to my practicum and we decided to take the kids on a bus trip. It was a double decker bus and I felt like I was back in London again... which inspires me to get back to my Pride and Prejudice reading... anyway. We took the bus to UVic and it's a pretty swell campus. There were bunnies everywhere, just like at U of R. However there was something different about these bunnies, yes, it's true. These bunnies came right up to us, looking for food. It was great. Sadly for them, we didn't have any.

But it was pretty much the highlight of my day... besides the fact that I live somewhere were it's 4 degrees in February.



From Brian McLaren in The Last Word and the Word After That: "Neil had helped me discover my faith not as a set of doctrines or an outline of propositions but rather a story that he liked to call 'the story we find ourselves in'. We don't just hear the story or believe it, he said, but it enters us, and we enter it: 'The story of your life is taken up into this larger story, so you inhabit it, become part of it, experience it, and extend it,' he said. 'It becomes your way of life, your life story.'"

Today I got one valentine.

Some things I'd like to share with you:

1) On Saturday I was listening to Jewel while writing and drinking chai tea in the quiet of the afternoon and I heard this:

/we gotta start feeding our souls/ have been lost to the millions with lots/ who feed on addiction selling pills and what's hot/ i wish i could save her from all their delusions/ all the confusion/ of a nation that starves for salvation/ but clothing is the closest approximation/ to God and He only knows that drugs/ are all we know of love/ every day we starve while we eat white bread/ and beer instead of a handshake or a hug/ we spill pills and sweep them/ under the rug/ my little sister is a zombie in a body/ with no soul a role she has learned to play/ in a world today where nothing else matters/ but it matters, we gotta start feeding our souls/

2) I finished reading "Through Painted Deserts" by Donald Miller. Here are some quotes that I thoroughly enjoyed:

"Ironing out faithless creases is toilsome labor."

"It's funny how you think you need something but you really don't."

"Just be good, it seems like, is the point of life; be kind to people; don't hate anybody; forgive people because we all make mistakes. I know that there are always going to be exceptions to this kind of thinking, but it seems like life would be better if we could just let go of the thought we need more and more stuff to be happy, more and more approval of others."

3) I was reading my bible and here are some nuggets:

"Prove by the way that you live that you have repents of your sins and have turned to God." - Matthew 2:8 (NLT, italics mine)

"Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." - Matthew 7:20 (NLT)

"For I have not come to call those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." - Matthew 10:13b (NLT, bold and underline mine)


So maybe I have quoted you to death on this one, but these are just a portion of what I wish to share. If you liked reading all of that, then you can look forward to more in the future. If you didn't... oh well.

I woke up to this today.

Bertuzzi is my favourite.

Tonight Peter and I went to the Blue Fox Cafe for supper. The Blue Fox Cafe is the restaurant where we ate lunch when we came out to Victoria in November. Tonight, we even had some sweet downtown parking... but as it turns out, the Blue Fox Cafe is a breakfast and lunch spot; we had to find somewhere else to go.

So we drove around a bit and we found this Greek/Italian restaurant, the name of said restaurant I forget. We had a quaint window seat. And after I had decided on what I would order and Pete was still perusing, I happened to look out the window. All that I saw was beauty. Outside the window was a huge tree with pink blossoms blossoming in the spring weather, lit up from the restaurant's lights, with a royal blue sky, rich and deep, visible through the branches. This may sound very normal, like nothing special, but you really should've seen it. I was/am so upset that I didn't have my Canon with me because it would have made a really spectacular print. Wonderful. I sat there watching it as the sky darkened slowly, slowly until the image was gone.

"The trouble with you and me is we are used to what is happening to us. We grew into our lives like a kernel beneath the earth, never able to process the enigma of our composition. Think about this for a moment: if you weren't a baby and you came to earth as a human with a fully developed brain and had the full weight of the molecular experience occur to you at once, you would hardly have the capacity to respond in any cognitive way to your experience. But because we were born as babies and had to be taught to speak and to pee in a toilet, we think all of this is normal. Well, it isn't normal. Nothing is normal. It is all rather odd, isn't it, our eyes in our heads, our hands with five fingers, the capacity to understand beauty, to feel love, to feel pain." - Donald Miller in "Through Painted Deserts"

Click here for a tour of our apartment!

Yes, I am still alive...

Peter here. It has been a while since i last wrote a blog on here. Wait a minute, i've never left a blog on here before. What is a blog anyway? Oh well, i am going to start now. I am sitting here at my computer right now in Victoria listening to my favorite band in the world and good friends(MEANS) wishing i could have been at the Glen Elm church in Regina tonight where Matt led a worship time for the young adults. So many good friends altogether at the same time hanging out and praising our creator. I will miss those times. As i reflect on the past week, however, it is hard for me to feel too down. I feel incredibly blessed by God to have been placed in such a beautiful part of the world and to be provided with such a loving group of people, being the church here. They have been doing everything in their power to make sure we are comfortable, including a special event on Sunday where everyone brought donations of food to help us start out in our new home. We are learning more and more every day about the incredible privelidge and blessing it is to follow Christ and be a part of his family. Today, however, Chelsey and i went to the grocery store to pick up some soya sauce (that sounds wierd but we really needed some) anyways, as we pulled in to the parking lot and parked, we looked across and sitting in a car right next to us was a dog. This might not seem like a big deal, but this dog was a boxer, and for those of you that don't know, my brother in Regina owns a boxer named Hudson. I instantly had memories flood into my mind of Hudson freaking out completely every time i walked in the front door of their house cause he was excited to see me and wanted to play. If this wasnt enough, i remembered those times of calm after i finally wore Hudson out (which didnt happen very often), when i got to sit on the couch and hold my beautiful 1 month old niece and hang out with my little brother Blair and his wife, Melissa. So if i could sum up my thoughts on my experience so far in Victoria, i would probably keep you here all day reading. My thoughts are all over the place. I am very excited about the ministry opportunities in the church here and have been humbled to see Gods hand at work in sending us here already. At the same time, it is getting to that stage where i am beginning to realize just how far away we are from everyone and wish i could go for breakfast at simply delicious with the guys or hop in the car and drive 5 minutes down the street to see my bro and his family. All these thoughts remind me of the wise and scholarly words of blink 182, "well i guess this is growing up".

Hopping on the bandwagon

Congratulations to my dearest friends Brianne Ashby and Arlen Foster who recently became engaged!

If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.

Chinese Proverb

I spent some time this afternoon sitting on my couch, letting the natural light come into our apartment. All noisy mechanical distractions were turned off and I sat, listening to the rain come down on the house. I made a cup of orange tea and sat on the couch with my journal and I wrote.

I watched "A Walk to Remember" last night with Auntie Vivian and my cousin Bethany. I had never seen it before. I admit that it was a bit cheesy and teenybopper-ish, and not even a very realistic portrayal of how love really is (but what movie is realistic when it comes to that?)... but what I really admired was Mandy Moore's character, 18-year-old Jamie. To me, Jamie portrayed a strong young woman of faith and character. She had such a strong confidence in herself, her faith, and her life which she had decided to consciously live.

Jamie didn't wear the "in" clothes or do the "in" things, but she did all the right things, the things that are good and important. I loved how she would look at others when they made fun of her; she never let it faze her. It was almost as though she knew something that they didn't, and she knew they were missing out.

And then we find out that Jamie has leukemia (sorry to those who haven't seen it) and she's dying. Once I found that out it all seemed to make sense, becuase it seems that when people definitely know they are going to die then everything becomes very clear to them and life is simple. Do what is necessary, what is important.

But the truth is, I know that I am going to die. I definitely know it! Yet I waste so much time on meaningless things and I somehow always seem to lose sight of what is truly important to me in this life and what I want to accomplish. I need to review the mission statement I have for my life, because as I stand right now, my heart isn't in the right place.

I know it's a Mandy Moore movie, but it's provoked some wrestling inside of my heart.

A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of every man;

the living should take this to heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-2

With my little eye...

So today we took a break from hanging pictures and finding little homes for all of our belongings and we went down to the harbour. And I saw a sweet gaggle of Mallard ducks all following this one guy who looked like he might be a janitor of sorts. They just waddled down the sidewalk, all 20 of them, and followed him. And then he went around a corner... and they're ducks so they are quite a bit slower than humans... so they cut through this garden to keep following him. It was definitely great.

Then we walked along the water and I saw a seal.

Then we drove along the beach and I saw a really big poodle.

Then we drove home and I saw the strangest looking Wal-Mart ever but we went in and it was huge and it was familiar and it was nice.

Then I came home.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4315716 (January 2006)