part two

So, we have seen a little glimpse... the choir, Steve Hindalong, Derri Daugherty, Dan Michaels and a few others from time to time. They were just the beginning for me though.
I guess another influence over the past several years would have to have been Kawartha Lakes Bible School, (now College). This little institution introduced me to the idea that the Bible was really deep and really complicated and could be taken very seriously and even challenged without worrying if you were going to be disappointed at the end of the challenge. I remember reading AW Tozer and for the first time glimpsing something "mystical", something challenging my thinking and then finding out that he wasn't a "Brethren" guy. And he was good too! Unbelievable!! Of course, up to this point I'd been not too tolerant of anyone else, ignorance is not necessarily a good thing when you're going to try to shine the grace of God, but then again, up to about the age of 20 how many times do youstop and think about the idea of grace?? Which leads me to the next thought, post high school age is often a very intolerant age. I know I sure was intolerant, even as I was discovering the fact.
It was also at this point that I began to discover that I was really quite a sinner. My motives were bad and I began to discover it. But more about that later.

Why am I who I am?

I thought I'd add a few thoughts from time to time about things that have influenced me and my thinking over the years.
The first thing that comes to mind as I type is that one day, a long time ago, I heard this song on the radio, "Kingston Road". I was about 17 or so, it was Peterborough's Christian music show. I'd listened to lots of music on that show that I liked, some of it really was good. Phil Keaggy, Mark Heard, Russ Taff, Whiteheart, I liked all those guys back then... but this was different, this was new, this wasn't easy to listen to, this wasn't the same old same old and I knew that there was more than just the same old way to say the same old thing, that you could find Jesus in strange and wonderful ways and places.
Here are the lyrics, sung by the choir (capitals left out on purpose!), words by charlie peacock (who's real name is Charlie Ashworth)

Walking down kingston road
In the little town of LeatherheadG
uess I'm on my own
Though I will never be alone
Not With YOU right by my side
In my heart and on my mind
Keeping me in line down Kingston Road

Walkin' down Kingston road
Father, lead me down
This winding lane
Lift me up if I should fall
And start me out again

Ponder with me if You will
A tender thought or two
How I came from where I was
To walk this road with You

Walking down kingston road
In the little town of Leatherhead
Guess I'm on my own
Though I will never be alone

Now its not my favourite lyric but it was a pretty little tune that introduced me to a whole "alternative" to what we'd always heard. And it wasn't just about the music. It was so much more.
More which shall be pried into a little more here eventually.

Is this thing on?

testing, testing....
hot mic, hot mic

Cannon fodder

I spent time today putting together a cannon. Can't say as I ever thought I'd type those words.

We've been following the news because right around the corner from Sabrina's mom and dad's there was a body found, just off a trail we always walk and bike on. Its strange but I've had to check my attitude and thought process a couple of times as the curiosity of the three day long police investigation has at times bordered on morbid. Our minds are like cannons they are never passive, even as they stand there, the potential energy they represent is awesome, awe inspiring that is, and deadly too, dragging us places we didn't want to go, to places we didn't want to go but head off to anyway.

Now if only I could put my mind back together again. I guess that's what renewal is about.

Technology and the absent minded

So you're supposed to remember your password... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, why don't they tell you these things in Kindergarten? I haven't posted in a month and a half partly because I couldn't remember my password, ( and don't we all only have about 2 or three passwords?) but no, I couldn't get on here to type anything...much to some of your delight. Anyway, my much smarter better half has shown me that you actually can defeat this evil Zurg-like creature and live to post another day... sorry for your loss.

Back to the future

So I got to reunite with a couple of former students yesterday at their high school graduation. Its great to reaquaint with old friends, I hope its okay to call them friends now. I think its great to be able to sit and talk with people who could stay perpetually adolescent in your mind and realize that they are now mature young adults, filled with hope, excitement and maybe even a twinge of fear about the future. The whole graduation ceremony was an encouragement to me, as it restores hope for tomorrow, that there are still good people coming through "the system", people with something to offer the planet. Now how do those people get reached by God?

Time, what time!!??

Okay, I have a growing appreciation and understanding of my dear wife. I've been witht the two little lads all day. Running. Making tons of mistakes and glad that they are still alive and reasonably normal looking yet. Schedule...oops, sorry dear. I've tried. Food...oops, sorry dear. I've tried..(I just made a typo as I typed "tried" seems it came out "tired"...Freudian?) Anyway, Thank you my Angel for all you do and still have time for Bronwyn and I when we get home. I'm learning, please be patient with me!!! I think I can, I think I can... gotta run............................................................................................................................................................

Time

I've been sitting here for at least two hours tonight. That must be too long. But where do you go to find out. We can easily explain it, even justify it, but where does the time go when there is no more time? Why can I sit here and read things that people have posted, listend to things they've recorded, follow things they've done or even are doing at the moment (just "watched" Vlad Guerrero ground out to short) and say to myself, where do these people get the time to do this, to get good at this, to put this stuff together. The answer is, they're not likely sitting here like I am right now. How many truly great people are spending as much time on the internet as I have tonight?
Hmmm. Now where did I put my life?

Graduation

Graduation means so much to us. Its always good to move on, but sometimes we don't really move on. We hold on. We might shift geographically, but we hang on mentally. 18-till-I-die thinking I guess. We might also want to consider that graduation means nothing to us as an occasion except in our own thinking and enjoyment, it makes a lot of work for many people who aren't even graduating. When do they get to graduate from running graduations? Heaven I suppose.
Speaking of which, heaven is the ultimate graduation ceremony. Again, we do nothing to get there, we don't really even deserve it (as some don't deserve to graduate here on earth). But geographically and mentally, we'll not only have graduated, we'll have arrived!

First Day rules

The rules of course state that no one can touch your stuff on the first day. Them's the rules. This is my spot. I know its just a bunch of ones and zeroes, but aren't we all?