It is finished...

men that r trees

Hippy Summer

Savior....like a shepherd lead us...

Monday...already?

We are one week into our trip...already! The kids fly home today...sigh! We will miss them. They are a lot of fun when work, school and university are not cluttering their lives. Lealand has bought a Ukelele! Anything with strings! We went out the other night to celebrate mother's day and my birthday...

Yesterday, Sunday we spent the better part of the day at Big Beach...saw another turtle and Tage and I saw a shark...we think...it was the biggest fish we had seen...and it was long and sleek like a shark...at least 5 feet long...we promptly swam out of the water...but it did not deter us from heading out again...

Turtle Swimming...

We have been watching the days fly by...the kids will head home on Monday night...we will miss them...then again...we will be happy to have a bed . of our own....Peggy and I sleep on the hide-a-bed! So today we went to Big Beach for the morning but it turned out to be cloudy and cool... I know, I know...even a cloudy cool day in Maui is better than....you fill in the blank. After lunch we headed out again for coffee of course and to search out a beach where turtles can be found. That is where these pictures were taken...and yes we saw a turtle or two.

We swam along a coral reef, scuba style...and sure enough a turtle showed up... each of us took turns heading out to the same reef...only some got to see the turtles...but we all saw tons of beautiful fish and coral, urchins and anemones. It was really exciting...and snorkeling is easier than I ever thought...thanks to Dawn and Sheldon for offering their gear! It has made our trip all the better.

Aloha...

We have been here three days and we are smitten! Maui has exceeded our expectations and we may not go home...ever!

Our flight to Seattle was delayed and the worried agents...told us we might have to spend the night in Seattle...and then connect the next morning (which would have been a collossal drag!) We were told that there was a slight chance that we would make it if we would run, turn left, go down the escalator and catch a train....etc etc. It didn't seem too hopeful.

But we made it. We made it in time for the Maui flight...from that point on though we were the reason for every other delay. "This is the captain speaking...because we had to wait for the people from edmonton...because their bags had to be screened..etc. etc.) When we got to Maui our bags did not arrive....and after a long wait...we were told we each had a fifty dollar credit to get essentials and our bags would arrive sometime the next day. So our first order of business was a shopping trip to K Mart for essentials like a swim suit and toothbrushes.

Our first morning here (we were up around 5 AM...we went for a walk on the beach closest to us and discovered that it had been closed to swimmers...due to shark attacks. A lady had been bit by a Tiger shark. However by the afternoon...all was well...and we spent some time floating around. The water is warm and clean...no nasty ocean smell!

We got to our Condo without any mistakes, thanks to Aimee's navigation and went to bed!

...As you can see we have gone local...well as you can see by Tage! We spent our first day getting our bearings, hanging around Kihei, grocery shopping and getting pounded by some pretty big waves.

Yesterday we spent our morning at Big Beach...and did some body surfing and "caught some waves" on our cheapy boogy boards. In the afternoon we went up the island and checked out Lahaina (the former royal capital of Hawaii), and Kanapaali. We were all in agreement that our own location was ideal!..

We are not entirely turned around time wise so we tend to wake up early and go to bed early. The best thing about that is...24 hour shopping, you can bump around Safeway with other jet lagged shoppers...nice!

One for my gardening buddies

Maui...

We are heading for Maui, on May 7. The 5 of us...it will be great to be with everyone and spend some down time on the beach, hangin' out and checking out the sights. I know that it is kind of a strange time to be going on a holiday but we have heard it is prime time in Hawaii...off season (as far as the snowbirds are concerned) but smack dab in the middle of pineapple season and the beginning of the rise of summer temperatures...I am soooo ready for that! I will be blogging our trip and hope to upload pics as we go...

One for my coffee buddies...

A few more pictures...I suppose they are not typical toursit pictures.

Ah...Montreal

Thought I'd post some pictures of Montreal. It was my pleasure to be there for a few days as spring hit the big city. It was the first time I had been to Montreal when the snow wasn't flying. It is a big, busy and fully alive city. It was a pleasure...

Supernatural?

I was intrigued by the current topic, Supernatural. Many who call on the Name of Jesus, and attempt to reconcile and integrate the Bible to their lives find it hard to understand how their lives could be so remarkably devoid of the supernatural. In sixteen years of ministry and many more years since (as a "normal" person), I have to say that the occurrence of supernatural events is rare, very rare. Well, I should say, supernatural in the sense of UFO’s, parting seas, paralytics walking and rocking their town. Alien abductions, mind reading and clairvoyance did not show up. Not to say that we didn’t meet people who claimed to read minds, part seas and participate in alien abductions. However, when we met them…we usually dismissed them as nut jobs. Not to say that we weren’t in proximity to people who claimed medical miracles, healing and the healing power but for the most part those were hard to substantiate. The well known, one leg shorter than the other act, the non-descript malaise now “lifted”. There was the infamous case of a friend who claimed to have seen gold-dust drop from the sky and miraculously turned his mercury fillings into gold. I had to stand on my toes to peer into his mouth stretched wide by his fingers and peer into the cavern of his mouth to see the fillings. As far as I could tell…no gold, lots of spit, no gold.
Perhaps we lose sight of real supernatural and miraculous things because we are prone to look for the weeping Madonna toast, and angel warriors standing on the platform while the Pastor brandishes the sword of the Lord.
Maybe we are in the dark of the miraculous universe when our faith is floodlighted by the expectations of “church” and mega-miraculous over-promising.
It is clear to me that miracles would not be miracles if they happened with the regularity of a TV schedule. In such a case we would have to call them “normals” because a miracle suggests the rarity of diamonds and the scarcity of whooping cranes. Without reading too much into it, we must accept that the Gospels are condensed accounts of the life and times of Jesus. It is reasonable to assume that the Gospel writers chose to emphasize the miracles of Christ and exclude the normal days of Jesus. I suppose it is reasonable to assume that some churches, ministries and denominations are also tempted to put forward the miraculous events of their history as opposed to the normal drudgery of budgets, staff meetings, personal conflicts and sinfulness. Likewise, an individual may present a miracle in their life with such regularity that it may appear that they have a corner on the miraculous market or that they are…you guessed it, a nut job. To make “normal” the reality of the rare and remarkable interventions of God on behalf of his children suggests a God we can boss around with our expectations and whininess in order to land a zinger of a story for next weeks bible study or Sundays “sharing”.
A careful examination of our lives (a good idea at any time) might show us that over the long term, miracles, rare and scarce have intersected our lives in ways not smacking of the circus or the snake oil salesman, but rather surfacing on the street level of our lives. I have seen this to be true in my life and the lives of others.
The young man sad and homesick while away from his family and friends, working the summer in Banff feels he should go into a church and sees a banner saying “Welcome Home”. Home he discovered would always be where God’s presence could be found. The weary Christian unsure of the God’s activity in his life, encounters a stranger on a train who imparts life and hope in a 5 hour conversation of spirituality. A sin riddled life turns around and faces his unhappiness and destructiveness with courage drawn from the wells of salvation. The greenhouse worker who in the quiet sun filled space behind the glass walls, encounters God softly calling him to himself and surrenders the battle that had raged in the darkness of his own soul. The social worker who discovers Jesus has come with him to work and filled his heart with the empathy of a broken hearted father. The fieldworker who cannot hope to make enough money to pay rent and cover his families expenses discovers cash, cold hard cash in his pocket as he dresses in his work-clothes before the sun has even risen. The woman who discovers a forgiving God and a compassionate listener when she discloses for the first time, that things at home are hotter under the surface than many would have known.
Miracles happen more in the ordinary and fallen days of our lives. We may have been told to “expect” a miracle. I believe, on the contrary, we encounter them. During a day of begging, during a day of watching sheep, during a smoke break on your job, or in the manure and straw strewn stable, light, inexplicable light fills a soul, lights a bush, rests on a child, opens a heart. Each one a supernatural encounter. Each one a miracle. -dg