I watched a plane fly over head last night and thought it was cool...
I realised that I am excited to be living next to a city. We used to live on a small island in the Bay of Fundy, where there were approx 900 people. We had to drive an hour do do grocery shopping or even get cardboard boxes when we moved. We traveled to the mainland by ferry, there was usually a wait to get on the ferry, and often one or more (there were two) would break down, slowing up travel plans even more.
Now we live next to Halifax. We are hooked up to high-speed internet, we have restaurants and stores and medical centers nearby. We have several shopping malls, specialty food stores, hobby shops and tons and tons of reasons to spend spend spend!
It hit me last night while I was watching the jet fly overhead. This is cool. All this stuff is handy to us, we can see a movie, eat out and then fly to Toronto or London England if we want - all in the same night! We could go to a wireless cafe, we could stroll on the water front or visit a museum. There is all this stuff to do and its amazing. I see all the people racing about doing it all. Scampering hither and yon people seeking fulfillment from every neat and nifty thing around them. Kids go to two or three sports a month, their parents driving them. The kids take martial arts, dance, drawing, painting, and music. They have kid committees and kid boards... there is no end to the activities that are possible around here.
And this gets me thinking.
If this is how cool it is here and now, how much cooler is it going to be in Heaven? I mean my gosh, talk about being close to whats important :-)
And you know what?
I won't need to drive an hour to get boxes for that move :-)
See ya
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Monday, June 06, 2005
Shazam!
I love saying that :-) Its important to do things that you love. Yesterday I got to preach again. I haven't really done that (well once a couple of months ago) in the last 7 months. I left a preaching position at a different church to come to the Family Minister position here at Hammonds Plains. What , you may ask, is a Family Minister?
A Family Minister is someone who works with Families and children. I am responsible for the "Sunday School" program, the youth programs in general, and over all the Fellowship and Discipling programs. But I don't get to preach unless Jerry, the Senior Minister, is away.
I miss it. I had been preaching for about 12 years when I came to this job, and that is roughly 1248 sermons comprised of 18720 hours of preperation. I really didn't think that I would miss that at all. But I do. Its good to preach, its good to give a straight forward message to people that addresses some need that we share.
Over the years I have had good sermons and poor ones. That is inevitable. I have had people say that something in the sermon what just what they needed to hear, and other who said I wasted their time. Such is life.
Here is the thing. If you have figured out what God has gifted you to do, then go do it. Don't sit around moaning and groaning about not being sure, or it doesn't pay enough. Get out and do it. Maybe God has gifted you with the ability to make really cool kites, or knit, or maybe make awesome pancakes. Great! Awesome! Get out there and do your thing for God.
If you aren't sure what God has gifted you with, ask your self these questions.
1) What do I love to do?
2) If I had no financial worries, how would I spend my time when I wasn't on a vacation?
3) When I am on vacation, what do I go to check out in other places?
A friend of mine is a Lobster fisherman. He does it cause he loves it. If he were worth a million dollars he would still do it. When he and his family went to Cuba on vacation one year, he went down to the local fishing guy hangout and helped knit trap-heads for lobster traps. He loves it and God has gifted him with an ability to serve others through lobster fishing.
What are your answers to the questions?
Get out there and do it!
See ya
Geoff
I love saying that :-) Its important to do things that you love. Yesterday I got to preach again. I haven't really done that (well once a couple of months ago) in the last 7 months. I left a preaching position at a different church to come to the Family Minister position here at Hammonds Plains. What , you may ask, is a Family Minister?
A Family Minister is someone who works with Families and children. I am responsible for the "Sunday School" program, the youth programs in general, and over all the Fellowship and Discipling programs. But I don't get to preach unless Jerry, the Senior Minister, is away.
I miss it. I had been preaching for about 12 years when I came to this job, and that is roughly 1248 sermons comprised of 18720 hours of preperation. I really didn't think that I would miss that at all. But I do. Its good to preach, its good to give a straight forward message to people that addresses some need that we share.
Over the years I have had good sermons and poor ones. That is inevitable. I have had people say that something in the sermon what just what they needed to hear, and other who said I wasted their time. Such is life.
Here is the thing. If you have figured out what God has gifted you to do, then go do it. Don't sit around moaning and groaning about not being sure, or it doesn't pay enough. Get out and do it. Maybe God has gifted you with the ability to make really cool kites, or knit, or maybe make awesome pancakes. Great! Awesome! Get out there and do your thing for God.
If you aren't sure what God has gifted you with, ask your self these questions.
1) What do I love to do?
2) If I had no financial worries, how would I spend my time when I wasn't on a vacation?
3) When I am on vacation, what do I go to check out in other places?
A friend of mine is a Lobster fisherman. He does it cause he loves it. If he were worth a million dollars he would still do it. When he and his family went to Cuba on vacation one year, he went down to the local fishing guy hangout and helped knit trap-heads for lobster traps. He loves it and God has gifted him with an ability to serve others through lobster fishing.
What are your answers to the questions?
Get out there and do it!
See ya
Geoff
Thursday, June 02, 2005
I am a games kind of a guy. My dream job would be to be a paid beta tester for almost any of the companies that produce computer games. Westwood would be awesome, or LucasArts...they have great games. I could sink into that lovely world never to emerge except for more Coke and chips. The thing is that unlike real life, games almost always show you the consequence of your action right then and there. You don't have to wait for years to see the fruition of bad or good choices...well except for the old Quest games (Space Quest etc) where if you didn't pick up the rock atthe start of the game then you were messed over at the end. In real life you don't see what comes of decisions for a while, if at all. You say something to a person and they are offended by it but don't tell you, they just tell other people, and thus you are affected. You pick a degree program that ultimately ends with asking if people want fries with that, but you didn't see that 4 or 6 years earlier.
With a game the manual tells you how to do things and how to make right choices in the game. The manual explains how things work, and importantly, how to save you game so that you can start over when you make too serious a mistake.
In real life there is a manual as well. We call it the Bible. It tells you how things work in life, how to make good choices and avoid bad ones, and it tells you how to save you life, and how to restore things when you make too serious a mistake.
Its been pretty useful for me, and I still get time for Coke and chips :-)
See ya
Geoff
With a game the manual tells you how to do things and how to make right choices in the game. The manual explains how things work, and importantly, how to save you game so that you can start over when you make too serious a mistake.
In real life there is a manual as well. We call it the Bible. It tells you how things work in life, how to make good choices and avoid bad ones, and it tells you how to save you life, and how to restore things when you make too serious a mistake.
Its been pretty useful for me, and I still get time for Coke and chips :-)
See ya
Geoff
Monday, May 30, 2005
Fine Fine Fine... Grant says I need a new blog post, so here it is!
Kids are growing up way too fast these days, and I don't mean it in a physical way. There seems to be some weird expectation that kids have to be little adults. I sort of understand the idea of getting a young kid a cell phone. You can keep a better eye on them that way. There there is far too much emphasis on kids dressing like their semi-pornographic idols from music videos. I am repeatedly astonished by the number of parents who apparently agree to their children dressing in incredibly revealing clothes. I know that I probably sound like everyones parents now, but hey, did you ever stop to think that they might be right?
Think about it
See ya
Geoff
Kids are growing up way too fast these days, and I don't mean it in a physical way. There seems to be some weird expectation that kids have to be little adults. I sort of understand the idea of getting a young kid a cell phone. You can keep a better eye on them that way. There there is far too much emphasis on kids dressing like their semi-pornographic idols from music videos. I am repeatedly astonished by the number of parents who apparently agree to their children dressing in incredibly revealing clothes. I know that I probably sound like everyones parents now, but hey, did you ever stop to think that they might be right?
Think about it
See ya
Geoff
Monday, May 23, 2005
Wow!
We went to the Maritime Christian Youth Conference this past weekend, and it was great! The downside to it was that there were too many people there. And the only reason that was a downside was that most of the guys had to sleep on the floor in the gym.
Now I don't know about you, but sharing a gym floor with 50 or so guys is not my idea of a great time. Especially when many of them snore. A buddy of mine was there and we set up our bedrolls beside each other. Had a good chat, calmed our guys down, then went to sleep.
Well at least he went to sleep. And snored.
We made two very important discoveries this weekend. 1 is that my friend has sleep apnea ( http://www.cpapman.com/disorder.htm ) which means that he snores TERRIBLY and also that he stops breathing while he is a sleep. That is pretty scary.
The second discovery was that people who are near people who have sleep apnea may never get to sleep.
He is my friend....but I could have cheerfully done him in by 4 am. Of course to be fair, he could have done me in because I kept poking him to stop the snoring.
I think I finally understand my wife poking me all these years.
Anyway, the rest on the conference was great, the kids had a good time, saw old friends and made some new ones, and best of all God was glorified!
See ya
Geoff
We went to the Maritime Christian Youth Conference this past weekend, and it was great! The downside to it was that there were too many people there. And the only reason that was a downside was that most of the guys had to sleep on the floor in the gym.
Now I don't know about you, but sharing a gym floor with 50 or so guys is not my idea of a great time. Especially when many of them snore. A buddy of mine was there and we set up our bedrolls beside each other. Had a good chat, calmed our guys down, then went to sleep.
Well at least he went to sleep. And snored.
We made two very important discoveries this weekend. 1 is that my friend has sleep apnea ( http://www.cpapman.com/disorder.htm ) which means that he snores TERRIBLY and also that he stops breathing while he is a sleep. That is pretty scary.
The second discovery was that people who are near people who have sleep apnea may never get to sleep.
He is my friend....but I could have cheerfully done him in by 4 am. Of course to be fair, he could have done me in because I kept poking him to stop the snoring.
I think I finally understand my wife poking me all these years.
Anyway, the rest on the conference was great, the kids had a good time, saw old friends and made some new ones, and best of all God was glorified!
See ya
Geoff
Thursday, May 19, 2005
For those of you who know me well, you will be shocked by what I say next.....
Curse You Coca-Cola!!!
Last night my wife and I watched LOST. Its just about the only show I make an effort to watch. We had a bag of chips to share and I had purchased a 2 litre bottle of Lime Coke as well.
The show starts at 9 and runs 1 hour. In that time I drank approx 1 litre of Coke. Thus I have been awake since 7 am yesterday morning....sigh.
Now here is the thing. I know its not really Coke's fault, I know that I am the one that poured it into the glass and then drank it. Its very easy to blame someone or something else for our problems. I need to stop doing that.
Well... at least I will sleep well tonight.
See ya later
Geoff
Curse You Coca-Cola!!!
Last night my wife and I watched LOST. Its just about the only show I make an effort to watch. We had a bag of chips to share and I had purchased a 2 litre bottle of Lime Coke as well.
The show starts at 9 and runs 1 hour. In that time I drank approx 1 litre of Coke. Thus I have been awake since 7 am yesterday morning....sigh.
Now here is the thing. I know its not really Coke's fault, I know that I am the one that poured it into the glass and then drank it. Its very easy to blame someone or something else for our problems. I need to stop doing that.
Well... at least I will sleep well tonight.
See ya later
Geoff
Monday, May 16, 2005
Today I am my dog's hero.
Its garbage day here, and so our garbage cans were by the side of the road. They had already been picked clean by the garbage collectors and their dissicated corpses were rolling in the chill wind.
Jack (the beagle in question) was put out on his tether, and discovered this macabre scene. Thereupon he set up a racket, baying with all his might to alert us (and the entire neighbourhood) of the fate consigned upon our poor garbage cans. This was the scene as I came out to investigate:
Jack was crouched almost at the end of the line, barking furiously, and baying occasionally at the garbage can remains. The wind was blowing one of the cans back and forth, and when it would edge towards Jack, his bark would change to a bay and he would edge back towards the house until the can in question rolled back a bit.
I brought Jack into the house. He immediately lept to the window as I went out, and moved the garbage cans to their accustomed places.
When I came into the house Jack greeted me with honour and praise, rejoicing in the restoration of all things.
Today, I am my dogs hero :-)
See ya later
Geoff
Its garbage day here, and so our garbage cans were by the side of the road. They had already been picked clean by the garbage collectors and their dissicated corpses were rolling in the chill wind.
Jack (the beagle in question) was put out on his tether, and discovered this macabre scene. Thereupon he set up a racket, baying with all his might to alert us (and the entire neighbourhood) of the fate consigned upon our poor garbage cans. This was the scene as I came out to investigate:
Jack was crouched almost at the end of the line, barking furiously, and baying occasionally at the garbage can remains. The wind was blowing one of the cans back and forth, and when it would edge towards Jack, his bark would change to a bay and he would edge back towards the house until the can in question rolled back a bit.
I brought Jack into the house. He immediately lept to the window as I went out, and moved the garbage cans to their accustomed places.
When I came into the house Jack greeted me with honour and praise, rejoicing in the restoration of all things.
Today, I am my dogs hero :-)
See ya later
Geoff
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Same day, not too much later. Did you ever wonder if beagles really know that when they give you that sad-eye'd look that it has an emotional effect? My beagle seems to do it on purpose. He also wanted out (he was bored)(its true...beagles get bored) and my wife did'nt want to get up and let him out so she said no. He looked at her a minute or two and then deciding that she was serious, he walked over to my desk, took a pen, went to the door and lay down with it. Here is the thing....
He pretended to chew it so that she would come over. When my wife got to him it was obvious that he hadn't chewed the pen (he also knows that he gets in trouble for that) and he hopped to his feet and looked eagerly at the door.
He got to go out.
See ya later
Geoff
He pretended to chew it so that she would come over. When my wife got to him it was obvious that he hadn't chewed the pen (he also knows that he gets in trouble for that) and he hopped to his feet and looked eagerly at the door.
He got to go out.
See ya later
Geoff
Two days in a row. I personally am astounded and astonished. Today being Sunday we went to corporate worship. That just means church. But it bugs me to say church because then everybody pictures what they think church is . And ours isn't like that. Hammonds Plains Christian Church is a recent start up. There really aren't a lot of rules to starting a church except worship God. So we do.
I work with the kids and families. Thats why they call me the Family Minister I guess :-) We have the "Construction Zone for the kids pre-school to grade 4 and a class for the older kids too. This takes place after the main service starts. When I arrived I was both startled and impressed at the level of teaching that the children were recieving. One of the nice things about a new church is that people don't know what you aren't supposed to be able to do, so they go ahead and do it anyway. The grade 3 and 4 class was doing a comparison through the synoptic gospels of the torments of Jesus prior to the cruxifixion. The teacher sat and quietly worked while the kids did the research.
This place is SO cool!
Anyway see ya later!
Geoff
I work with the kids and families. Thats why they call me the Family Minister I guess :-) We have the "Construction Zone for the kids pre-school to grade 4 and a class for the older kids too. This takes place after the main service starts. When I arrived I was both startled and impressed at the level of teaching that the children were recieving. One of the nice things about a new church is that people don't know what you aren't supposed to be able to do, so they go ahead and do it anyway. The grade 3 and 4 class was doing a comparison through the synoptic gospels of the torments of Jesus prior to the cruxifixion. The teacher sat and quietly worked while the kids did the research.
This place is SO cool!
Anyway see ya later!
Geoff
Saturday, May 14, 2005
It has been a year and a half since I last posted something here. In fact I had forgotten about it entirely until I found an old link to it. Much has happened in that year and a half. We moved to a different province, I have a different job and we are now (trumpet music) in the process of buying a house!
Fear and trembling have become a part of my daily existace. The truth of the matter is that I am a financial coward. I have done some very dangerous things in my life, I have faced down armed attackers, I have fought fires (from inside the fire) in forests and homes. I have worked to rescucitate the dead and have intervened in suicide attempts. But nothing so far has caused me fear and anxiety as the idea of buying a house.
More on this later. Its good to be back.
See ya!
Fear and trembling have become a part of my daily existace. The truth of the matter is that I am a financial coward. I have done some very dangerous things in my life, I have faced down armed attackers, I have fought fires (from inside the fire) in forests and homes. I have worked to rescucitate the dead and have intervened in suicide attempts. But nothing so far has caused me fear and anxiety as the idea of buying a house.
More on this later. Its good to be back.
See ya!
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Google News
Interestingly, I like the Google News Site. Its quick and easy and has a wide arrangements of sources. But I miss the days when I didn't know what was going on in the world. There was a time when I had no idea what was going on in the Middle East, or Europe, I didn't know what the trouble was south of the border, and I had NO economic notions about anything.
Those were good days.
News is so depressing now. Hurricanes about to hit, people shot, marriages crumbling. I really look forward to Heaven.
I don't know exactly what it will be like, but I do know that it will be better than this!
See ya
Interestingly, I like the Google News Site. Its quick and easy and has a wide arrangements of sources. But I miss the days when I didn't know what was going on in the world. There was a time when I had no idea what was going on in the Middle East, or Europe, I didn't know what the trouble was south of the border, and I had NO economic notions about anything.
Those were good days.
News is so depressing now. Hurricanes about to hit, people shot, marriages crumbling. I really look forward to Heaven.
I don't know exactly what it will be like, but I do know that it will be better than this!
See ya
Thursday, September 04, 2003
INSIDE OUT! with Jerry Meyer
Maybe one of the neater things about the web is that we meet so many people who live absolutely anywhere (hence the overall title of the Blog) and do anything. Over the years I have met a bunch of different types who have become very close. Jerry meyers (aka PapaJ) is one such person. He is a Christian, he is musical, and he gets my jokes! What more could you ask for.
Okay, he could also own major shares in Coca Cola and give them to me, but hey you can't have everything...
Papaj is also a former volunteer firefighter ( as I currantly am) and we connected on tons of different levels. He has been wrestling with health problems for years, but then he was faced with stuff (health problems) with his wife Pat. You have to read his stuff to understand I guess.
Anyway, he is cool, and I respect him immensely.
see ya
Maybe one of the neater things about the web is that we meet so many people who live absolutely anywhere (hence the overall title of the Blog) and do anything. Over the years I have met a bunch of different types who have become very close. Jerry meyers (aka PapaJ) is one such person. He is a Christian, he is musical, and he gets my jokes! What more could you ask for.
Okay, he could also own major shares in Coca Cola and give them to me, but hey you can't have everything...
Papaj is also a former volunteer firefighter ( as I currantly am) and we connected on tons of different levels. He has been wrestling with health problems for years, but then he was faced with stuff (health problems) with his wife Pat. You have to read his stuff to understand I guess.
Anyway, he is cool, and I respect him immensely.
see ya
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
My Webpage
I used to have a snazzy (there is a word you don't see very often) webpage. I had all kinds of stuff on it about my family and my hobbies and stuff. I had flickering torches when they were still cool and I had music that never ended. In fact it was the theme music to "Get Smart".
I would update it every now and again, when my kids had birthdays or if I wanted to change a description or add links or whatever. Then I let it sit for a long time. About a year I guess, maybe longer, I had gotten bored with it. I just didn't really care about it. After all, its not like I got anything out of it except for a few friends that I made. (Which I suppose really justified the whole exercise in primitive html.) So anyway, after quite a while of not touching it I tossed everything on it and replaced all the deeply interesting facts about me playing Frisbee Golf with a couple of neat cartoons.
Now the cartoons just update themselves and I can come and go as I please. Its really very satisfying in a way.
I guess thats kind of my life. I am not terribly interested in telling lots of people all about me, I am more interested in passing along fun and useful things. I guess thats kind of why I am a Minister. Its not about me, its about Jesus.
See ya.
I used to have a snazzy (there is a word you don't see very often) webpage. I had all kinds of stuff on it about my family and my hobbies and stuff. I had flickering torches when they were still cool and I had music that never ended. In fact it was the theme music to "Get Smart".
I would update it every now and again, when my kids had birthdays or if I wanted to change a description or add links or whatever. Then I let it sit for a long time. About a year I guess, maybe longer, I had gotten bored with it. I just didn't really care about it. After all, its not like I got anything out of it except for a few friends that I made. (Which I suppose really justified the whole exercise in primitive html.) So anyway, after quite a while of not touching it I tossed everything on it and replaced all the deeply interesting facts about me playing Frisbee Golf with a couple of neat cartoons.
Now the cartoons just update themselves and I can come and go as I please. Its really very satisfying in a way.
I guess thats kind of my life. I am not terribly interested in telling lots of people all about me, I am more interested in passing along fun and useful things. I guess thats kind of why I am a Minister. Its not about me, its about Jesus.
See ya.
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Peggie's Place!
I will never win a lottery! I was on a friends web page today (Peggie) and I hit the magic 7,000,000 spot. I got the counter thingee to roll over and because of this I am very excited. ( I really do have a life, I just think its really cool) Peggie has this great webpage and I like going there anyway. We both love Jesus, and lots of Italian food :-) There are actually a bunch of us that email regularly (The Pot o' Pastors) and Grant and I were both going to her site to see what the counter was. I won. Thats why I say I will never win a lottery. But thats okay actually. I don't really mind. I have something better.
Oh yeah. Grants website is Grant's Graceland
See ya
I will never win a lottery! I was on a friends web page today (Peggie) and I hit the magic 7,000,000 spot. I got the counter thingee to roll over and because of this I am very excited. ( I really do have a life, I just think its really cool) Peggie has this great webpage and I like going there anyway. We both love Jesus, and lots of Italian food :-) There are actually a bunch of us that email regularly (The Pot o' Pastors) and Grant and I were both going to her site to see what the counter was. I won. Thats why I say I will never win a lottery. But thats okay actually. I don't really mind. I have something better.
Oh yeah. Grants website is Grant's Graceland
See ya
I talked to a friend today, he reminded me about Jeff Healey. Thats not a big thing except that I was glad to remember him. I used to listen to his show on CBC Radio, and I always liked the tone of his voice. He would play great blues songs, and occasionally he would play something himself. It was a warm and comfy thing I guess. You need to remember people that have affected you, but there is so much stuff coming at us everyday that I just don't seem to remember until something or someone reminds me. Its like walking into a Cow's Ice cream shop and remembering that I love Chocolate mint chip ice cream. Its a happy thing. Its like sometimes when I am really bummed out cause I have messed something up. I get all worked up about it and then my wife reminds me that Jesus forgives us anyway, not just when we get everything right, but when we are seriously screwed up too. Jesus is a happy person to remember too.
see ya
see ya
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