c(Red)ibility

i am not but i know I AM

welcome to the story of God by louie giglio

i finished reading the book, i am not but i know I AM this morning and i thought i'd share my thoughts. it's a good read, giglio is a well regarded christian speaker and author with good reason. he's a friend of andy stanley, and it seems stanley's penchant of picking a key point and driving it home emphatically is shared by giglio, in this book anyways.

as you would expect from the title, the main point is the insignificance of our lives on our own and the overwhelming love and significance in our lives when connected with "the truest, purest, most potent, most beautiful being in existence. giglio doesn't range far from this theme throughout the book. i found it repetitive with the range of stories and examples a little weak.

that said, it was a good reminder. i came away built up and put in my place, playing my role in God's story. the highlight of the book was this section:

Furious rest, you see, is not about doing nothing. It's about doing
everything we do with the quiet confidence that our lives, families, businesses,
ministries, relationships, and dreams are in His hands.

Maybe for you the circumstances are different, yet the weight is the
same. You know, the weight of trying to make yourself out to be bigger
than you are - of trying to figure out how to run your life on your own, of
always trying to determine the outcome, control the relationship, close the
deal, run the show, hold it all together, know the future, protect your
interest, build your kingdom - the weight of playing the role of God in your
life and the lives of those around you.

But be encouraged. Today is the Sabbath. Oh, it may not
literally be Sunday, but Sabbath is a state of mind and attitude of the
heart. Sabbath happens anywhere and everywhere we let go of the controls
and lay the cares of our lives at His feet.

So where is your future right now? Where is the outcome of your
pressing dilemma? Is it in your hands? Is it in the hands of the
businessman or woman on the other side of the table? Is it in the hands of
a boyfriend or girlfriend? Is it in the hands of a team of doctors?
Or is your life, and all that concerns you, in the hands of the God who
constructed the universe effortlessly in one week?

If you want more rest and less "stressed," declare this very moment to be
your Sabbath - the place where you pry your fingers off the circumstance and
people you are trying so desperately to control, the place you discover that
life really does work better in His hands instead of yours.

Why the Conservatives are doing a good job

I think the federal Tories are doing a good job, all things considered. Operating under a minority mandate and in their first term in office, they've been able to move the country forward on a number of issues. They have been very pragmatic, spending more time making progress than talking about what they plan to do. While the media doesn't like this approach, I do. Here are some highlights.

1. Income Trusts. While you'd think I'd be upset about this one, working in the telco industry, I actually think it was a good move for Canada. Income trusts, in general, give more of their available financial resources back to investors than do corporations. Corporations are more likely to reinvest cash, operating on the principle that their business is a better option for their investors than would another option be. The tax rules the Conservatives inherited offered businesses incentive to be income trusts, thus an increasing number of businesses were moving to this structure. By removing the tax incentive for businesses to be trusts rather than corporations the Conservatives have reestablished a balance keeping business sectors that should be reinvesting to keep the economy growing, doing so. As well, they removed a loophole that potentially could have drained a lot of corporate tax revenue from the government.
2. Quebec as a Nation. Just announced yesterday, the Conservatives realized what the opposition parties were attempting to accomplish and moved in taking advantage of the situation an potentially solving an ongoing issue of national unity. By putting forward a motion declaring Quebec to be a nation within the nation of Canada, PM Harper essentially preempted a motion by the Bloc to declare Quebec as a nation period or a nation currently within Canada. The difference is that Harper's motion gives respect and recognition to the Quebecois, but does not change the current rights or Canada's make up. This could potentially lead to Quebec signing in to the Constitution. The Liberals were fractionally discussing the possibility of putting forward this type of motion, however Harper took advantage of the opportunity and put forward on his terms. Well done!
3. The Environment. Yes, yes, I know. The Tories are getting slammed in the media and by the UN on this one. They're not for Kyoto and maybe they should be. It seems Kyoto now is more a political stand than an actual set of standards/aspirations. In any case, I won't argue against the idea that Canada should be doing more to lead the green initiative, rather than dragging our heals. However, in the 13 years the Liberals were in power they publicly endorsed Kyoto and environmental standard changes, but never actually implemented them. Even more indicting, they didn't create significant budget room to enforce standards or encourage green innovation. The Conservatives are not 'cooperating' but at least they're making some actual progress.
4. Foreign Policy. While not all are in favour of the Afghanistan mission, the fact that the Conservatives have reinforced the military in spending and unequivocal support no doubt changes Canada's stature in world affairs. Avoiding conflicts and failing to play a role in enforcing peace and justice outside of our borders in the past decade and a half had painted Canada as a self-focused country not interested or not caring enough to put ourselves in harms way to help out others. Fighting for the Afghan people at the cost of our soldiers lives gives clear indication to the world that we will stand up for causes we believe in. If the Afghan mission was abdicated, the country would go back to being a training ground for terrorists. If they're able to install stability in government, not only will terrorists be held in check there, but there is the potential to begin addressing the drug export problem there.

I tip my hat to Prime Minister Harper and the Conservatives. I'm glad to have supported them in the past election and hope to not have to again any time soon.

As always, I welcome your thoughts.

Haggard Reality

Last week's news of Ted Haggard's fall from ministry was discouraging. I won't lie. I have some harsh thoughts about it. I never quite get how people in high profile positions think that they can or should get away with these kinds of abuses.

What concerns me the most about this one is that no-one is talking about it. It's in the news, but it's not part of anyone's day-to-day discussions. It's as if people expect it now. That's a sad reality.

I read an article on the subject by Gordon MacDonald that has some good thoughts. I really like what he had to say. Give it a read.

Leader's Insight: When Leaders Implode
Ted Haggard, self-destruction, and the consequences we all suffer.
by Gordon MacDonald, Leadership editor at large


Oh, and per my last post, I need sponsors!

Bowl for Babies

On Friday night I'm participating, along with my youth group, in the Bowl for Babies event. It's a fundraiser for the Pregnancy Care Centre of Halifax. I need to raise $100 for the event. If you're interested in sponsoring me, please let me know. I'd appreciate it and it's a great cause.

Only a couple of gunshots

I'm back from the Brooklyn trip and happy to say it was a success. While I expected to be doing more construction, I ended up mostly doing demolition and cleanup. Essentially busting down walls and then cleaning it all up. I think swinging a sledgehammer at walls all day is every guy's dream.

What we were doing was beginning to transform an old hospital into an administration and dorm building for Metro Ministries. They have a number of buildings in that area of Brooklyn and have bought this new building, the size of a city block, with the intent of centralizing their ministry. So, walls had to be taken down and furnishings ripped out to allow them to build to their requirements.

(Picture 1: Me taking out a wall. I found a bigger sledgehammer after the pic. Picture 2: the Manhattan skyline from the roof of the building we were working on.)

The team of 25 drove in 5 vans down to Brooklyn. It took about 16 hours of driving time, so about 18 in total. Every time we stopped there was a long line for food/washrooms, as you would expect, given that there were 25 of us. I enjoyed the drive. It was long, but the guys in my van were good guys and we had some good laughs.

While we were there, when we weren't working, we got a chance to head into Manhattan 3 times and to Brooklyn Heights, doing sightseeing. Brooklyn Heights in gorgeous, probably the best view of the Manhattan skyline in the city. I was surprised at how nice downtown Brooklyn is. I had expected it all to look like the area we were working in.

The Flatbush area that we were staying was interesting. During the day I'd walk around and everything seemed normal. A noisy neighborhood with lots of nice SUV's. However, situations just seemed to explode with no warning. One night I took a group into Manhattan. A few minutes after we left there were 5 shots fired outside of our building. I saw the police bust a guy on a street corner. There was a fight outside of our window. The last night, when we were walking back from the subway (with too many shopping bags in our hands, I'll admit) a junkie and got up in our faces looking to start trouble. While it would seem to be no big deal, I didn't like the possibilities there, a bunch of white guys from Canada carrying shopping bags... I felt like we would quickly be targets. Anyways, we got out of there quickly without any real issue. But for any illusion of normalcy, it was not a good place to let your guard down.

We got a chance to check out the ministry that they do there for the kids. Thousands of kids from all over Brooklyn and Queens come every week to their programs. And they do such a good job of capturing their attention and presenting the good news to the kids. Everything flowed and was exciting, getting the kids attention, getting their energy out, making the messages catchy and memorable. All the while teaching the kids in a very direct way. I was very impressed. The dramas they did, set to music, reminded me of the street evangelism I did back in BC with DRIME.

(Picture 3: Me and some of the guys in Times Square)

On Sunday we went to Brooklyn Tabernacle. That was a highlight of my trip. The worship was moving and Pastor Cymbala had a great message from Psalms on being real in relating to God, expressing true gut feelings while still keeping the context of who God is. I took a lot from his message and enjoyed the experience.

To sum it all up, it was a worthwhile trip. The ministry is making a difference in the community, we were able to contribute, we had great team unity, Mike Miller and Go Missions do a great job, we had fun and I'm back. With no bullet holes...

(Picture 4: The whole team)