We call it the ghost church. It was a joke when we moved to the oil patch just south of Edmonton. Some days, from a distance the domes of this beauty glistened in the sun. Some days we couldn't even see it. It was there, it wasn't there. It became a topic of speculation. Is it down this road?

When we found the road. We rolled up to her, she was beautiful in a time worn way. The way you see beauty as you age.

Yesterday, I had a few extra minutes and got to her just as the sun was rising.

We could try and draw conclusions and paralells between a church that shows up sometimes and other times is lost from the horizon. I guess for myself what I see is light! The church is battered and beaten. It has her days of hiddeness and her days of glory...regardless she has a beauty because the light has not yet gone out.

A week of Miracles...

I am reading the advance reader copy of Brian McLaren's new book, "The Secret Message of Jesus". (click on this title to see his interesting web site) In it he give some pretty amazing insights into the miracles of Jesus. He says basically (and far more eloquently) that the miracles of Jesus were a clear indication that the kingdom of heaven was among us. That the King of this Kingdom stopped along the way to heal the blind, open deaf ears, give life to the dead. Kings in Jesus day were like Herod (a puppet king, completely shut out from the reality of his own people) or like Caeser who in there god-like status were far away and relied on a heavy handed army to ensure that his Kingdom was full on about power over the weak. They were not interested in sharing their resources with the common man. They did not find a widow's story compelling or a soldiers request a call for action. He paints a picture of Jesus stopping along the way...having his attention drawn to a mans plea or a womans faith. Basically...he says, miracles are proof that the Kingdom of God is here!

This past week we saw it. I mean not just a few...so many I am sure we will miss a few.

A man had his heart literally explode inside of him. The phone rang during our small group and we were called to the church to pray because the doctors had told the family they didn't know what to do and the man's chest was filling with blood.

The prayer meeting was somber but sincere and news came that he had been moved to the University Hospital and they were going to do surgery. It turns out that the second most famous heart surgeon in North America took on the project. The man is still in intensive care, but he is expected to pull through. His weary wife was in church this morning...she wanted to be there to say thankyou. Cynics may have a lot to say...but the faithful are simply asked to believe.

A mom and dad who have a little guy with down's syndrome stopped by our house with their little guy and bouquet of flowers. Peggy works with him three days a week...and the Mom and Dad wanted to say that this week there little boy had done so many remarkable new things that they wanted to celebrate with Peg. Some might say there is nothing miraculous about that...but I am sure if you asked his parents...they would say it is a miracle...actually when we spend time with there blonde boy...we realise he is a miracle. If you want to see him in action...follow this link and watch the "Miracle Movie"... http://devonsurprise.tripod.com/

Oh and I asked for some help, followed some advice, changed the filter on the furnace, switched it off...switched it on and it came back to life...when I ask for help, when broken things get fixed in my house...(I know it seems insignificant)...to me it is a first class miracle.

Meet the Author...

There is a double meaning to the title of this entry.

First, I have yet to publish a picture of myself on my blog...the issue has been more linked to vanity than privacy. And it is not that this is such a good picture...but it illustrates part of my life that I am quite willing to share with you. I love my job. There I said it...sadly I haven't always been able to say that. During my stint with Statistics Canada my leg ached from the shackle attached to the desk. In the school system I became positively pavlovian when my life was pretty much run by bells. And yes, even in my time as a pastor I did find days where shackles and bells would have seemed like a cakewalk. (note to reader...have you ever been part of a cakewalk...I didn't think so...I have...if you want to know about leave a comment).

Second...yesterday we put on a book signing for a well known author. Some of you may recognise him. I am sure that book signing for authors can be a drag, a routine, a task. And I freely admit that most authors are not people-people. It is hard to be a people person and lock yourself up for hours to write something that other people want to read.

I love the contrast in this picture. Clearly one of us is excited about his job. The other seems to be caught in the realm of expectation and schedule. They are both great guys...and we all have bad picture days. To love your job, to be way over the top excited about what is happening is a gift. Ok I admit it. I was hamming it up for the camera...something my kids taught me...but do you see the contrast? Does it make go ....hmmmmmm

Thought so...

A winter's tail(s)

We had a busy weekend. A weekend cursed by crazy broken things. Our furnace is broken...warms the house up to a wopping 61 degrees and shuts off. Makes noise but does nothing...something like the green party.

Aimee's car is broken. One of my headlights is out. One of Peg's windshield wipers won't work. Its ok though...in time we shall overcome.

Some famous writer once said, "The Sunday service was spectral, but the day itself was divine" It is a hard thing I suppose to wow the crowd every Sunday. Today was one of those days. Sunny and warm in January...can solicit prayers of thanks from the most hardened athiest. We had lunch with our friends and down to the river to walk our dogs. Tessa is the blonde dog in the picture...Daphne is a more sophisticated raven haired beauty. Together they are about as goofy as it gets. They run in circles, bark and chase sticks of every shape. I took a movie of it all today...I posted it on my webpage...you have to be patient while it downloads...but you will feel just like you are there with us...I guarantee it http://devonsurprise.tripod.com/...in case you want to get a feel for what it was like..."the day itself was divine".

Was thinking about a book I want to write...actually during the spectral service...It is closer to the surface than it has been for a long time...you never know what might happen...the story is forming...and transforming in my mind. Fiction...that's all I have to say...fiction lets you move out in writing on your own...into uncharted terrritory. Writing is such a solitarty adventure.

Winter comes to Saskatchewan

One of the more unique aspects of my job is the fact that I travel to towns and places that to most Canadians are just part of a grade 7 geography lesson. It is not that I have always appreciated my assignments to places like Caronport and Moosejaw....in fact I had to really give my head a shake when I was told that Saskatchewan was being added to my territory.

God had prepared me for this almost 20 years earlier. We left the lush lotus land of Abbotsford as recent Bible School grads for the barren, yellow plains of Medicine Hat in 1987. The first time Peg and I drove across southern Alberta I kept saying to her, "There must be some mountains somewhere!" The only thing that broke the horizontal vibe was mountains of sugar beets being mounded at the Sugar refinerys of Taber and Bow Island. Even Bow Island gave no sign of water, a river or even an island!

Our first few weeks of living in Medicine Hat I thought we had moved to the ugliest place on earth! Dry land, parched by summer sun, sagebrush and even cactus...yes cactus.

Can I tell you something? After a few years I discovered some the masterwork of creation in the Prairies. Albertans talk about the wide open sky, and its true! But beyond that there were the incredible thunderstorms, the grainfields and yellow canola. The river valleys made green by the spring runoff. Antelopes and rattlesnakes...and cactus, yes cactus. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

This week I drove down the highway from Saskatoon to Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw is one of those places where every house looks like it has a story to tell. Even the High School looks like a Lord Farquar castle in Shrek. There must have been a time when building schools meant a lot to a community. I mean look at this one! Wow...

Just up the street from the school is a neighborhood that seems to be about 100 years old. This great old house seemed to have a post-christmas hang-over. Winter had come to Saskatchewan...even if it missed us in Alberta. To see some real snow on the ground was a treat. Yep...had to go to Saskatchewan to find snow this winter.

Not that Winter is over...by any means. Another treat of Prairie life is the snow that falls in May (or June) and the false warming of late winter is often just a joke with punch line that ends with snow! And guess what no one is laughing.

Cycle 1

I leave tomorrow for Saskatchewan...I hope the roads are good and that I can find some time to take some pictures with my new digital camera...my Christmas present...it should change the way my blog looks.

According to a soldier we prayed for this Sunday in Church, Canada is the only country that is on the Taliban's hit list that hasn't been hit by them. Coincidentally this is also the year that we will be travelling to Toronto a minimum of six times for sales meetings. (Toronto is thought to be the target city, because of the lax security measures) And after seeing "flight plan" I am not sure if I can actually get on a plane again and not feel that there is some sort of conspiracy going down. The movie used the shifty eyed stewardess motif to the max...I always thought they knew more than they were letting on.

Speaking of security measures, the last time I flew from Toronto home was last week. When I was in the cab I took note of what I was wearing and realised I had all the wrong stuff on for the metal detector. I was wearing a sweater with metal zippers up both arms, (no it is not for people who can't dress themselves), a belt I bought in Mexico with at least 25 silver medallions (Viva Zappatta!) on it and my John Fleuvong boots with no less than two zippers on each boot. (Note to self, talk to someone about this zipper thing!). So needless to say I was in a state by the time I got to the gate. I dumped ten pounds of change into the basket, took off my coat and plunged through the detector prepared to suffer the indignities of a strip search. Would you believe not a buzz or whistle, no red lights, no "take off your shoes", no "undo your belt buckle", no "take off your tacky tourist belt from Mexico". Nothing. Kinda makes me worry. I carried at least kilogram of metal through the metal detector.

"Have a great flight!"

New Year...here we go again

Happy New Year... I know, I know...I blew it with the advent thing...the best laid plans of mice and men...um...er...how does that go? So...no problem, I deleted those entries and will now continue to add to my blog in this new year...2006.

To those of you who have grown weary of checking and checking to see if I had anything at all to say...thanks for checking one more time...I do have a few things to say.

I like what a new year can offer. At work it is a fresh start. Forget the fact that you missed your sales goal by a country mile...here we go start again. At home it is a time of change as well. Tage has a driver's license...I don't need to drive anyone anywhere anymore. Between him and Aimee the bases are covered. Peggy and I go a lot of places alone. Just the two of us (this is a benefit)...but I miss that "being needed" part a bit. It seems strange...you would think it would come as a relief...but for whatever reason...I am a little sad about it all.

New years always reminds me of 1969...the year that we moved from the 60's into the 70's. That year my family had relocated to Whitehorse...a fresh start. Moving seemed to be a good way to do that. My dad managed a motel...cleverly named "The Airport Chalet", right by, you guessed it, The Whitehorse International Airport. My brothers and I cleaned the bar of the hotel every Sunday morning. Any money we found we could keep...we found more than money! I was probably the only kid in grade 1 who had a swizzlestick and garnish sword collection to show for show and tell.

For new years my Mom thought it would be funny to dress up my older brother as Father Time and me as a baby to represent the new year. It seemed funny until it seemed like it might really happen. I guess a baby is a good way to represent a new year. I just wasn't going to be that baby. Unless I repressed the memory, I can't remember if I did it or not. Probably not.

We will start with our small group again next week...studying John Eldridge's book Epic. I am looking forward to it. It is exciting to think what we will all experience again together...we took a long break over Christmas...time to start again.

Starting again...we all need to do that from time to time...it is important to draw a line in the sand (or snow) and decide to start again.