Merry Month before Christmas!!!!

Now that I am ensconced in the Wonderful World of Retail again, I have remembered my ancient aversion to Christmas.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love the thought of what it means, I love the idea of God submitting to the pains of birth so that He can eneter the world like one of us. The Faithfulness of Joseph and Mary, the wonder of those who came and witnessed Baby Jesus.... this is amazing, wonderful and awesome stuff.

But its not retail Christmas. Retail Christmas is the process by which we get you to buy more stuff than last year. Retail Christmas is merchandising the stock, rotating the displays, focusing the view and cycling the staff. Its people jostling, shoving, pushing to get the last widget in the pile, or the batteries for said widget.

My warehouse see's it all come and go. The truck drivers pull up and we unload truck after truck after truck after truck after... well you get the idea I think. Its a never ending process of stuff for money.

This is what I hate. The tension, the mobs, the tears, the anger, the grouches, the sneaks and thieves, those who prey on people who just want to make a child smile, but don't realize they are going about it the wrong way...

As I walk around my store, I get the feeling that I can see Jesus in the temple, the day that he drove out the moneychangers. I fear that my store is something that He would drive out. Because we encourage the greed and hatefulness and dissatisfaction in people. We tell them that they need the next best thing, that they want this and that. Get in line, pull out that credit card, spend spend spend!

I am sorry Lord. Take me somewhere else...

Geoff

Well the store is open and we are doing well. That is the upside. The down side is that I am averaging about 15 hours a day at the store...and no, thats not an exaggeration.

I get there around 8:30 (we open at 10 am during the week) amd I leave at about 11:00 to 11:30 pm. So far the latest I have left was 2:30 am (which sees me get home at about 3 am).

I love retail, I love working with customers, but managing has its own unique set of problems and I have never had a staff this large before. Its daunting and I am getting pretty tired.

So keep us in prayer.

In related news....

Nathan is doing well in College, got his student loan (and thus gets to eat somewhat more regularly than when he was depending on us for eating money) and bought a new laptop. This is apparently God's will for him, in that he can now be studious in class (vis a vis the laptop) and slay malignant creatures of darkness (vis a vis the laptop and World of Warcraft) by night.

All in all a satisfying combination apparently. My wife is working diligently at her store as assistant manager, our daughter is striving to perfect her driving skills ( and I must confess is doing a non-bang up job (which in this case alone is a good thing)) andthe dog and cat have masticated various objects about the house.

Still looking for a fulltime ministry position....

So whats new with you?

Well the store is open and we are doing well. That is the upside. The down side is that I am averaging about 15 hours a day at the store...and no, thats not an exaggeration.

I get there around 8:30 (we open at 10 am during the week) amd I leave at about 11:00 to 11:30 pm. So far the latest I have left was 2:30 am (which sees me get home at about 3 am).

I love retail, I love working with customers, but managing has its own unique set of problems and I have never had a staff this large before. Its daunting and I am getting pretty tired.

So keep us in prayer.

In related news....

Nathan is doing well in College, got his student loan (and thus gets to eat somewhat more regularly than when he was depending on us for eating money) and bought a new laptop. This is apparently God's will for him, in that he can now be studious in class (vis a vis the laptop) and slay malignant creatures of darkness (vis a vis the laptop and World of Warcraft) by night.

All in all a satisfying combination apparently. My wife is working diligently at her store as assistant manager, our daughter is striving to perfect her driving skills ( and I must confess is doing a non-bang up job (which in this case alone is a good thing)) andthe dog and cat have masticated various objects about the house.

Still looking for a fulltime ministry position....

So whats new with you?

Okay, so... as I type I am in room 211 of the Howard Johnson in London Ontario. This is not the room tha I sleep in, that one is 111. This room has a computer with high speed and the hotel is kindly letting me use it.

Now you may ask..."Why is Geoff in London Ontario?"

Go ahead, ask. I will wait.....

Thank you for asking :-) I am training with XS Cargo to be a manager for the new store that is opening in Halifax around Oct 26th.

XS Cargo is a store that sells things very inexpensively, and much of it is quite good quality. I am enjoying it so far, its like a lot of what I have already done, but just rearranged, different ways of doing things because its a different company of course.


Now a coupe of people have asked if this means that I won't be/am not a minister anymore.

Nope.

If I get an offer from a church and its something that God directs me towards then I will take it in a shot. However right now I think this is how the Lord would like me to pay bills.

And I get to swim in the pool at the hotel too :-)

Let me know what you think....


See ya

Friends start posting blogs and the next thing you know you are feeling like you are in the Matrix! Lois Mitchell is with CBM (something to do with Baptist Ministries) as a Public Witness. She and Marilyn Smith (no relation to Agent Smith or at least so I assume) are presenting some thought provoking ideas that are designed to shift the focus of the church from inwards to outwards. They are following the theme of justice as God would see it looking at our world.

You can find them here. Go and be provoked :-)


See ya

Lets see, Nathan is off to MCC, I have a new job with XSCargo (they are opening a store in Halifax and I will be the manager) and until it starts I am driving a Special Needs Bus.

Thats it for the nonce!

See ya

Hey, just so you know I have shifted over from regular Blogger to the newer (and there for obviously) better Beta-Blogger .

How will that affect you?

How should I know?

But let me know if there are any problems and I pledge to pay vague attention to your problem and them promptly forget the whole thing.

See ya :-)

Okay Okay Okay!!!


Every now and again something vastly cool happens and you say...WOW!!

This is a WOW!!! moment for me. A piece of history is for sale!

The S.S. Minnow is for sale!

Not the wreck that was on Gillian's Island beach, but the actual ship from the opening credits.

Growing up I had more than my share of T.V. and I had many shows that I loved to watch. But Gilligan's Island was a special one for me. I really identifed with Gilligan. We both made mistakes all the time, we both tried hard to please but often messed up through over-exhuberence, and we both were trapped on a deserted Island with two beautiful women and many chaparones. Well... okay maybe not that last one, but you get my drift (drift!!! Note the cool nautical reference). So now here is the original boat for sale.

Gosh. Its so cool that I could actually own that (if I had the $99,000) in real life. And yet, how sad it would be if I did.

If I owned it I would be ticked off at it quite a bit. Its a 46 year-old boat. And if you know anything about boats, then you know full well that a brand new boat costs money on a daily basis, so a 46 - year- old boat is going to be (as the saying goes) a hole in the water into which you throw money.

The thrill of the fantasy would be gone. It would be a real deck under my feet. I would have to get the hull scraped and cleaned regularly or do it myself. I would have to pay for fuel, repair the hull (its wood..trust me) service the equipment.

Fantasy doesn't hold up well in the light of day, or on a day to day actual living-type situation.

Maybe thats why I appreciate God so much. He isn't fantasy. He doesn't misrepresent Himself. Jesus has "been here and done that" as the saying goes (I like that phrase...as the saying goes...). Jesus knows what life is about from our perspective as well as from the perspective of the divine creator and sustainer of all. Day in and Day out, He is the same.

He doesn't change His mind, He doesn't look really great out in public and then fall apart in private.

God is cool for that very reason. He doesn't put on for others. He is God. He loves me, He knows when I have messed up big time and still loves me.

The S.S. Minnow would be a cool thing to see, to sail. But God is with me forever, and thats MUCH longer than a three hour tour (a three hour tour).

See ya

Okay, admittedly 3 months is a long time between blogs...but not the longest. What has been happening?

Well lets see.

I finsihed my job with Halifax Regional CAP Association, I have been looking for other work(over 400 resumes served), did two weddings in New Brunswick (that was GREAT!!!) had discussions with a Church in Montana regarding employment, but I thought it would be too expensive to live there, our son graduated with honours from High School, our daughter has her learners permit, Our son thought he would go to Bible College, our son decided he would work for a year first, our son has decided to go to Bible College (again) :-)

I was offered 3 different jobs, one paid enough for me to live in a box as long as the rest of the family moved in with someone else, one sort of paid better but had the potential to make me a zombie (this may yet come to pass) and the last involves working with Investors but requires a move to New Brunswick again.

I just want to be a minister....sigh

Anyway, this week I have refreshed my training as a School Bus Driver (contrary to popular believe this doesn't involve firearms at all) initiated contact with another church, fixed a tap, a flourescent light fixture and a hose, submitted a student loan application (for our son) made suppers, bbq'd, caught up on several friends blogs and actually updated my own.

Now we are trying to get things ready for our son to go to College in a whole different province..snif. If you thought I had a hard time at Randy and Sara's wedding wait till I have to leave him at Maritime Christian College .

I am open to suggestions.

See ya!

Okay , here is an experiment. Have you seen those freepay ads where they say that if you complete the terms you get a free ipod? Well I thought about it and decided I would like a free ipod, however I am personally opposed to giving out anyone elses email address to accomplish this. So what I thought I would try is this. I have it here on my blog.

http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=30260170


If you are interested in signing up for some stuff anyway (like the Columbia house DVD club, that kind of thing) and want to get your own ipod, then click on the link. Otherwise don't bother. This way if you want it, then you choose and I haven't given out anyones email address. Apparently I need 5 people to click and sign up for the program so that I can get my ipod.

So, if you want to, go for it. I signed up and I also signed up for the Columbia House DVD club. Thats me. Anyway, like I said , this is an experiment. I have wondered over the last few years when I have seen these if anyone actually got the ipod. Now we shall see!

So, how have you been?

See you later!

So here we go again!

My contract is up the end of next month, and I have begun a new job search. To be honest this gets old pretty quickly. Remember when you were young, and looking for a job was fun? I always enjoyed it. I have never had trouble getting a job. I thihk its a God thing really. Something always comes along at just the right moment.

But I would like to find something to settle down with for a while. A Church in the U.S.A. has contacted me, but thats a pretty big change, and I am not certain if its what God (or we) wants yet. So I chew away at it every day. Look at the lists, contact businesses, chat people up (as some British friends say) and wait to see what happens.

What do you think? Have any leads for me? Let me know.

See ya!

So April 19th 2006 was my son's 18th birthday. I am still figuring out how I feel about that. On the one hand I am very proud of my son. He has grown into a fine, dependable young man who has integrity. That is a fine thing. But, on the other hand, my little boy isn't a little boy anymore. I am not going to get all maudlin or anything thing about that (I do that in my head quite enough thank you) but it does take a bit of getting used to.

I had a manager years ago who was different from any other manager and he taught me some interesting things. He trained people so that they could move on to better things. He took in new workers and trained them to do the job the best they could. And when the District Manager would come along and want them to be Managers in other stores he was happy to send them off. Most managers I have known get ticked to train someone only to have them move on, but Peter said that that was the natural way of it. You couldn't expect someone to get good and then stay in a lower job.

Kids are like that too. We have them and grow them. They start out completely dependant on us for every little part of their life, then gradually they start to learn from us, then they figure somethings out on their own, and before you know it they are ready to move on to bigger things than being our kids.

Of course they will always be our kids, but still they have things to do and learn that are completely seperate from us. And that is a good thing. Its tough sometimes, but its good.

My son is always my son, but today is he more a man then he was yesterday.

If you want to hear a sermon of mine from a year and a half or so ago, here is just such a one.

01 - Sermon 1 Aug 8.mp3 (Semon MP3)

File by Bigupload.com

And I must say, Bigupload.com is pretty cool too. Keep us in prayer folks.

See ya

Well I have been internally debating how to do this post for a week or so now and I don't know if I am satisfied but we will see.

A couple of weeks ago the Dr. told me that I have diabetes. The good news is that I had gone to get my PSA count done and he had called me back into the for another appointment. For those of you not in the know, this is how they check to see if you have prostate cancer. When he called me back I thought I must have had a high count and that they would have to poke about more.

So when he said that I had diabetes I was actually relieved. Of course intelligence soon returned and I am not as happy with it as I was at the time. I must admit though that since changing my diet I feel much better than I did. (No "I told you so's" are permitted at this time.) I am more alert, I have more energy and am sleeping better. My memory is returning (I tended to forget things very easily and it seemed to be getting worse) and I am occasionally able to outwit my daughter again.

There are many things about diabetes that I am not happy about. The change in diet for example. I LOVE food. I particularly love the foods that I now must limit. Sigh...


Such is life. I now eat MUCH smaller portions than I had been. I am watching the substance of my food as well. Every morning I stick my finger and watch the numbers. All in all it could be a lot worse. So far I am able to keep the blood sugar at a reasonable level through diet, so I am not yet required to take Insulin or one of the other meds that can make up the requirements for continued existance on this plane.

Which of course brings me to God. Now some people might wonder how I can continue to believe in a merciful and loving God when I have been "smote" with such an unreasonable disease. And Some might have said that as well when I first discovered that I had Lupus. So here I am now with both and still praising God. As my buddy Ben would say "Whats with that?"

Here is the thing. Lupus and diabetes are inconvenient, but they both share a common factor. They really only kill you when you don't take care of yourself. Lupus gets you when you get too much sun. Diabetes gets you when you don't take care of your food intake. So the responsibility is mine.

God has given me a precious opportunity to show people His Glory and His Grace! Sure I have two icky-type conditions, but I have eternal life with God through Jesus Christ. Its like getting a splinter on the day you are going to Disney World. Yeah, bummer, a splinter. But hey DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!! Come on, there is no comparison at all. Everybody here abouts is going to die. Some of us are going to die sooner and some later. Some will die in bed and some from bizarre accidents involving elephants and laxatives!

The point here is that to assume all is lost for me is ridiculous, God gives me each day, and waits to see what I will do with it. I choose to share with people that God is awesome and loving and that He is looking to give you what you need for a great life, both here and after.

God loves you

See ya!

Right, so here is the good news;


I have a job!!!! I am now the IT Development Coordinator for the local Canada Access Program. I will be working with a team to assist small businesses and entrepenuers in accessing resources to computerize their businesses.

Its a bit weird because its really the type of job that one of my other family members would get and I would be congratulating them about. But its pretty cool over all. Its a 5 month contract to boldly coordinate where no one has coordinated before :-) ( I used that phrase earlier today and I still like it)

The bad news is that I won't be driving a school bus anymore now, and that is really quite sad. I very much enjoyed the job and particularly working with the kids. All of them were fun, but the kids on the Special Needs Bus "S3" were wonderful. And here to you are the songs Spider-man, Cruelle Deville and Ghostbusters!

I will see you again.

Okay this one is simplicity itself.

We have an election on the 23rd.

If you are legally eligable, get out and vote.

See ya

Geoff