pipe dream

anyone

2006-08-13T15:56:00.000-04:00

Hello all, was wondering if anyone still comes to this blog?

Matthew 5:6

2006-04-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

Matt. 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Most of us have been there, we have been a service were we have been convicted and the Spirit moves. We go to the alter and give it over to God and as Doc Taylor said, “It’s a living sacrifice, after you leave it on the alter it gets up and follows you back.” A lot of the time we don’t follow through with our commitments, either because it’s hard or we get frustrated and we find ourselves right back in the same place. So what do we do?
I think it takes discipline. I have for too long expected God to do the work for me. Too often we have come to the alter and felt the warm fuzzes and expected all to be roses after. I believe that the warm fuzzes have been and are the out-pouring of Gods love on us at our breaking point and from then on we need to do our part.
I believe that we need to be disciplined. Now for those who know me know that I am the last person to be giving advice on discipline. But God has slapped me in the face with this and this is my blog…so I can write what I want.
Discipline need to come in every area of our lives, not just the spiritual aspect that we want to work on. If I’m not disciplined in my work, finances, house work, and life in general how do I expect that I will have victory in my spiritual life?
1 Timothy 4:7b “…train yourself to be godly.”
Drawing close to God is very important and is easily looked at as not being urgent. (Quadrant two for those of you that have read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) I feel we need to discipline every area of our lives. Why do I sit down and watch 1 to 2 hours of TV a day, does it bring me closer to God? We need to cut away the influences that keep us busy. For too long other less important things have taken the place of God, the same God that killed a guy for touching His box in the Old Testament.
“Laziness never leads to Godliness” Rick Kavanaugh

DC Talk SUSE Linux and Books

2006-03-17T22:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, that's right!! I went and bought this album of Amazon.com, it was $2.47. Nice deal if you ask me. This album takes me back, I put the CD in and was blasted with "Luv is a Verb." Sarah and I have developed a saying when ever things don't go our way...Such as getting wet in the rain or the power going out...We say, "Its OK we have DC Talk." I also picked up Audio Adrenaline's "Don't Censor Me" album. Haven't got that in the mail yet.
For all those interested I got Linux running and surfing the web. It only took me 4 weeks. I can tell it is going to be a battle until I figure out command line stuff, mounting hardware, and driver issues. I'll keep you posted....lol...Get it...Posted...This is a blog. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.
I was also wondering if anyone knew of any good Non-Christian books out there. I just finished a good Christian book and am still sifting through the stuff God slapped me in the face with. So I'm looking for something...I don't know. I looked on the New York best sellers list and non really stood out to me. Any suggestions would be great...Unless they are from a guy in Fredericton who's name rhymes with Ark. ha Sorry again...Its late...That probably won't be funny to me in the morning.

Stuff

2006-03-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

Recently I have been listening to my old Christian music. Stuff like DC Talk – Jesus Freak, Reality Check, Seven Day Jesus (which I used to love…but now I can see why they only had one album), and Church of Rhythm. I wish I had DC Talks “Free at Last” album….classic.
On another note I have been reading the book God Chasers, which I had heard a lot about at Bethany but was too lazy to pick it up. I feel I can relate to the writer in his frustration of the church as a whole. I feel I have come to a place in my relationship or my Christian walk with God where I just want to see Him. I just want to be with Him and a lot of the time I feel like the church of today doesn’t. “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, I will heal their land.” I know that’s in the Bible somewhere. Also Matt. 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Truly seeking after God comes at a price…a price that for some is too high. I’m sick of playing church, I want more of God!! Which means I will have to change.

Indifferent

2006-03-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

Can someone post something for me? Maybe this picture will inspire you.

Geek Moment

2006-02-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

I have been convicted lately about have stuff on my computer that I didn’t pay for. This basically means everything! I didn’t have a legal version of Windows XP, Microsoft Office XP, Music, Adobe Premiere, and various other programs. Now, I know there are people out there that don’t have a problem with it, and I used to be one of them. But over the last little while that sort of thing just hasn’t sat well with me. This sort of thinking is dangerous for someone like me because I grow up never paying for software (except the occasional game) and still believe one shouldn’t have to pay for it. (I mean $300 for WinXP…what a waste of money) So if I don't want to steal the software and don't want to pay for it where does that leave me. As far as music goes I'm just going to have to buy the CDs I want, but what about windows and the office programs...etc. Well I went with an OS (Operating System) that was free, Mandriva Linux . Once I get the hang of the new OS I think I’ll like it. It’s not for everyone thought…you have to learn everything all over again. My biggest problem so far has been learning the dos-like commands and the modem. I think 90% of modems are made for windows. I also use a free word processor now, it is called Open Office ( check it out http://www.openoffice.org/ ). All and all I feel better about myself!

2006-02-05T06:38:00.000-05:00

Hello all, I have been meaning to post for some time now and I apologize for not doing so. Today I went to a birthday party for my niece who is turning two. She has a sister who is four. I noticed something when she was opening presents. She got the usual toys, which wasn’t a big deal to her as she had more fun with the wrapping paper and a balloon she would let go of….it was pretty cute. Mine and Sarah’s Dora the Explorer present was cast aside for that balloon and wrapping paper…but I’m not bitter. Next year I think I will just get her a big box filled with wrapping paper and a balloon. What made me think was when she started opening the presents with clothes in them. Some of the outfits (which I sure she didn’t pick out) matched her big sister’s clothes. As I looked at the matching sets of clothes I laughed to myself, thinking that this may be the reason so many people want to be different when they are older. You know different clothes, hair that stands out, and different body piercings. Maybe by dressing kids alike when they’re young inputs in them a complex that they are just like someone else. It might all come back to parents dressing their kids alike when they’re young. I remember when I was young and my parents dressed my brother and I alike….I hated it!! By the look of the picture it is no wonder I even turned out normal. So I don’t know what I think about dressing kids alike…what do you think?

camping

2006-01-20T19:24:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity to go to someone’s camp by myself recently for a little time away. This camp has no running water, no electricity or generator, and no bathroom (I’m a pretty regular guy so I had to be back in 24 hours…if u know what I mean). It is truly a camp. It had a wood stove which was the only source of heat, which I was quite excited about. I thought I was going to be alone, however a dog named Jenny ended up coming with me (which I thought was ok). If I had a dog I think I would name it Winston. Anyway, Jenny and I went for a walk in the woods for a couple of hours and then headed back to the camp. When we got back to the camp I discovered that the fire had gone out and had to build it up again. In doing this I had to take deep breaths and blow on the coals to help the fire. It was on one of these breaths that I smelled something really bad. I almost gagged. I turned and looked at the dog that was now sitting at my feet; it was no mistaking it that Jenny had farted. It smelled so bad.
Overall, the camping trip was great, I feel I have deepened in my relationship with God… I might elaborate on this more later. But for now I leave you with my fart story.

Zipper

2006-01-16T18:50:00.000-05:00

I have not forgotten about you all…as you can see in Sarah’s blog there is a lot going on in my life. Hope all of you had a good Christmas and new year.
I was wondering though, if anyone has a problem with their zipper? Do you find that u constantly look down and see that you fly is down? Because I do! It never used to be like this. I think that, on average, I realize my zipper is down at least twice a day. Am I the only one?

Movies

2005-12-20T07:30:00.000-05:00

I went to see the new Harry Potter movie last night. I know it came out a while ago but living in a rural area and bring a pastor has limited my chances to see it. Overall I wasn’t pleased with the movie. My biggest problem was that the left out sooo much that was in the book. I feel they left out too much. I don’t think they did the book justice. So this got me thinking about movies and how everyone says, “They could never get everything from the book in the movie.” Well why don’t they? Movies are getting longer and longer. Before it was a big deal to sit through a movie 2 ½ hours, and more and more it is becoming the norm. So why doesn’t Hollywood do the book justice and make the movie longer. Maybe have intermission half way through so people can go pee. Maybe when movies are 4 hours long we as the customer will finally get our moneys worth after paying 8-10 dollars just to watch it. Of course not including the small popcorn for 5 bucks. As far as Harry Potter goes, I thought it was good. But, I was very disappointed that they left so much out. What do you think?

Brutally Honest

2005-12-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

Today there was a Christmas concert at the elementary school for grades Kindergarten to two. It was a packed house; the gym was full of family waiting to see their child perform. For some reason I got roped into playing Guitar for the kindergarten class that my wife student teaches in. So for the past couple of days including yesterday I had to go into the class and practice with them. Now, I have been teaching myself and am just learning guitar. So when I went into the class and saw 25+ five year olds looking at me in anticipation, I was a little nervous. But they thought that I was really cool…can you blame them? One thing I have learned about kids that age is that they are brutally honest. During the practice I messed up and stopped playing on two occasions. (I could play the song; there was just one part that I was having trouble with.) At the end of the song when everyone was quite one of the kids looks at me and says, “You need to practice Pastor Ben.” What could I say? I told him that he was right, and that I would practice that night. It was sooo funny! So today at the Christmas concert before we went on the same kid asked me if I had practiced. I thought to myself that it was funny yesterday, but today I have to play in front of over 250 parents with video cameras capturing these moments in time forever. So, I smiled and told him that I had. I didn’t want to let the kids dawn and I didn’t…Fun times with honest 5 year olds.

Christmas

2005-12-11T13:18:00.000-05:00

Let me just start off by saying a little about the election coming up. I'm just getting into the whole politics scene and had some questions, things regarding the election, and how the gov't works cleared up by AP. Before this I was one of those people who complained about the Gov't and never voted. I find it interesting and childish at the same time.
On another note I'm going to have a youth Christmas party on the 20th and was wondering if all you in blog land had any ideas of something fun you did at such a party?

reading pipe dream

2005-12-01T07:21:00.000-05:00

I have a question for everyone today. Dose anyone have any suggestions of good book to read. I am trying to get a list of books together that I can read in the coming year. The books could be spiritual or not as you can see from the list so far. Here’s what I have:

1. Harry Potter and the half-blood prince
2. The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime By Mark Haddon
3. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt By Anne Rice
4. I Am Not, But I Know I Am: Welcome to the Story of God By Louie Giglio
5. The Problem of Pain By C.S. Lewis
6. God Is Closer Than You Think By John Ortberg
7. Come Thirsty By Max Lucado
8. If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat By John Ortberg
9. Reaching for the Invisible God: What Can We Expect to Find? By Philip Yancey
10. The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney

Some of you who know me might catch that this is a pipe dream. Because you know how much I hate reading….anyway does anyone have any suggestions of other good books I could look at? I already have the Donald Miller books.

Roof and Survivor

2005-11-28T08:16:00.000-05:00

I did something really stupid the other day. That seems to be some-what of a theme in my life. Sarah and I got rid of cable tv, we found that we were spending way to much time watching it. So, now we have three channels (MPBS – with shows like Nova and such, CBS, and CBC – who in Canada doesn’t have that) which we get via an aerial on the roof of our apt. building. Last Thursday we wanted to watch Survivor, but somehow the aerial had moved and we could only hear what was going. So I decided to go up on the roof and move the aerial so we could see what was going on in the show. This didn’t seem like much of a problem to me at the time. I have gone up on the roof many times, but this time was different. Now there was snow on the roof, not just any snow…packy snow. I didn’t think this was going to be a problem as I slipped on my airwalks (no tred). However, when I got on the roof via fire escape I realized the error of my ways. I made it halfway up the roof before I slipped and fell on my butt. After I landed on my butt I started sliding down the slop of the roof. Somehow I managed to stop myself from falling off the two story roof, and it was then I realized how stupid this was…all for Survivor. I ended up crawling the rest of the way.

Untitled

2005-11-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

Let me back that last post up. Let’s take the pot lucks and get together events we have. I am all for getting together and having some fellowship. This is (according to Rick Warren) one of the purposes of the church. But take a look at the get together events and the pot lucks we have. Are they true fellowship? Or are we just getting together and eating. Not inviting anyone new (I’m as guilty as the next person in that area) and the conversation is surface level. This happens all the time!! It seems that we are focused on ourselves more than winning lost souls or really developing a relationship with others. If we are just going to get together and eat I don’t want any part of it. Our lives are but a vapor. Maybe I need to start truly deepening relationship during this time….I don’t know…I’m still work’n through it

Let’s look at the games in youth. On one hand they are a huge waste of time but on another they aren’t. Some of my youth come in every week and ask what games we are playing that night, and I’m sure tonight will be no exception. I feel like saying, “Your missing the point!!” It’s about GOD not GAMES. Now I know games are a drawing card of some of these kids and it needs to be fun. I have been struggling lately with the whole issue. If I did away with games and implemented music and a worship time wouldn’t God bring the people if we prayed? Shouldn’t He be the pull to come out not games? Anything we try to do on our own power in ministry will fail or will just be adequate unless God is in it.

Anyway….I just don’t know what to do…I’m sick of where we are! I have a desire that we as a church come to the feet of God. That we run to Him. Like I said in the last post I need to pray as to where God wants me to go in EVERY decision, big and small.

frustrated

2005-11-21T23:01:00.000-05:00

You know, I am really frustrated right now! I am frustrated with the pot-lucks, I’m frustrated with games in youth, with the get-togethers, and with the relationships that are a mile wide and an inch deep. I just want to see people break out of the rut they’re in and really seek the face of God.

I long for Him…and He longs for us! Where do we go from here…I feel he wants me to pray.

Rot your brain

2005-11-17T10:42:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me know that I love video games. I love to play them, and have been playing them since Mario for the NES. As I think over my childhood video games is one of the main things I remember. My biggest pet-peeve is when people distract for a video in a game. (Mark can attest to that) However, recently I have been doing a lot of thinking about video games. Not so much the violence or anything that concerned people speak out against in regards to games now-a-days, but the time I waste playing them. I did some rough calculations and I’m not sure if they’re correct, but I have wasted 281 days of my life playing video games. (Based on 1 hour a day / 5 days a week….and sometime I play more if I’m into a game) What do I have to show for those days…..NOTHING!!! I should sue Microsoft and Nintendo! Of course I would never win. Imagine if I have spent those days with God instead. Or even on something productive….like sowing or that game of pool, at least I would be building my skills at something!! (I have always had a pipe dream to sow a quilt…wouldn’t that be cool!) I don’t know if I will let my kids play them, at least do something productive! I’m so mad at myself….281 + days.
What do you guys think on the subject?

B-Day

2005-11-09T23:03:00.000-05:00

Today is the day I was born...26 years ago. It was an ok day, I'm really really busy which didn't make it that great. I spent the whole day trying to get a sermon ready for Sunday and came up with nothing....It sucks.
Anyway, I went to booster this past weekend and had a blast. I love taking my teens to such events because it exposes them to other teens who love Jesus and really WANT to praise Him. But....Speaking of that I was in one of the services having a good worship time (u know hands raised, singing really loud off key) and something slaps me in the face. Not something physical (if only I was so lucky), this was a smell. Yeah, you know what it was....Someone farted!! How rude is that? Its not like I could ignore it...Every time I would take a breath to sing I was reminded of what was all around me. Nothing will take the spirit of worship away quicker than that!

Me and 6,446,131,400 other people

2005-10-31T20:41:00.000-05:00

I have noticed for the past couple of months that I like to talk about myself. I have also noticed that this trait is not something that I alone have. Everyone likes to talk about themselves. Take this blog for example….enough said. Most people wouldn’t have a problem with this trait in their life. But I find myself more and more aware that I do this, and it bugs me. It’s like, when people talk to me I am constantly thinking about how their story relates to my autobiography. Once I find a scrap of a connection all I do is hold on to that thought and think about it until I have a chance to express it. All the while not really hearing what the other person is really saying because I want to say something about me! How selfish is that? The extreme of that would be someone saying that their house is a little drafty, so I might say that I walked into the Middle School with my zipper down. I wouldn’t say that….hopefully. But, I can think of people in my life who were truly listening to me, not trying to talk about themselves or share their personal experience (Not that there is anything wrong with that, there is a time and a place for it) As I think of these people, they are the ones I am most likely to confide in. They are true listeners and if you talk to them some of them say that people open up to them. That’s the kind of person I want to be! So…bottom line is that I’m try’n to stop…but it is supper hard. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I want to be a listener all the time…that would just be boring. I just need to find a balance.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2005-10-30T21:53:00.000-05:00

It snowed here last week hence the title. It was kinda nice to see the snow float down. But I’m sure that after 5 months of the white stuff I’ll be glad to see it go. Maybe I liked the snow more because I knew it would melt away in a day or so.
Anyway I thought I would ask a question (or just give a thought…I don’t know what it is yet) to all you out there in blog land. Have you ever noticed how we don’t look at people? I was at a local convenience store the other day (which really isn’t a convenience at all because of the high prices) to pick up some milk. After I had gotten back in my car I had realized that I didn’t say anything to the cashier. I couldn’t even tell you if it was a guy or a girl. I do this all the time, so now I am going to make it a point to look at the people I buy stuff from. I don’t know about talking though…there are some weird people in those convenience stores.

2005-10-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

I’m back!! I was gone to a Youth Specialties conference this past week. I left on the 12th and didn’t get back till the 18th. I went with Tim Branscombe, Mark Brewer, and Brandon Shillington. With the group of us that went down you can imagine that I have tons of stories that I could tell espically after traveling 3000 + KM. The conference was the best youth worker conference I have ever been to. David Crowder and Chris Tomlin lead worship, with a whole bunch of other bands. (Starfield, Third Day, Jars of Clay….and more) There were tons of seminars which we could go to, speakers like Doug fields, (author of Purpose driven youth) Mark Yaconelli, and Louie Giglio.
In all seriousness I had and awesome week. God really moved in my life, and taught me so much…stuff that I will be working through for a while. (More to follow on that)
As you can see, I had the chance to get my picture taken with David Crowder.

zipper

2005-10-05T09:05:00.000-04:00

One thing that I know I need to do as a youth pastor is to get into the school more, I don’t do it nearly as much as I should. When you go to the schools you get to see all the friends of the teens that come out to youth.
So, yesterday I went to pick up one of my teens (Gary) to take him out to lunch. (it was middle school, so I had to sign him out) I got there a little early and the bell for lunch hadn’t rung yet, so I was in the office and talked to the principle and secretary a bit. When the bell finally rang I moved out into the hall as kids streamed by me. I knew some of them, talked to a few teens and met some of their friends. When Gary finally came I signed him out and we were off. Yesterday was a nice day, the sun was out and there was a slight breeze that hit my face when we walked outside. However, there was a breeze that hit me somewhere else that I wasn’t expecting. I thought to myself oh no….and sure enough when I looked down the zipper on my jeans was down. My heart sunk as my mind thought back to myself talking to different teens and their friends, the principle, and standing in the hall watching the flow of students going to lunch. But, I couldn’t just zipper is up there…we were the only ones making our way across the parking lot and the huge cafeteria windows were right behind us. It would have been extremely obvious to the people behind the windows and to Gary what I was doing. So I had to wait till I was closer to the car and used it as a shield while I fixed myself. It was embarrassing!!
This whole event got my thinking…couldn’t people design a better system than the zipper. I know they’ve tried (The button and even velcro) but it always comes back to the zipper.

yeah...hi

2005-10-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been thinking about two different things:

1. How materialistic we are. (Myself included) Like I have been reading this book, “Blue Like Jazz” because everyone said it was a great book and I like knowing what people are talking about. Although I am not finding it as great as everyone says, but I have only read 30 pages or so. Anyway, there is something that hit me. In the book Donald Miller was asked by a woman if he had a shaving razor. His reply was that he might. Her response is, “You don’t know where your stuff is?” Donald Miller points out that she is coming from a materialistic, territorial paradigm when she asked this question. This made me think of my own life. I would probably ask the same question. Don’t I know where my stuff is? Sure I do and I’m always thinking about how to get more. I need to change my paradigm so that I’m not so much focused on stuff as….i don’t know….God…

2. The second thing I have been thinking about is insurance companies. Am I the only one who thinks that they are one big crock? I mean take for example the people who just went through the hurricane Katrina. I bet some of these people paid into an insurance policy all their life. But just because they didn’t have that one clause in there, they get nothing. And if by some chance that they did, their rates are going to skyrocket. How fair is this system? We should develop a system where you have to pay into a policy (and pay a slight fee) until you have paid a certain amount. At which time you could take the money out of the policy and put it into a savings account.

God

2005-09-26T08:50:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday was quite amazing at our church. We had the normal service in the morning and at that service we had 2 baptisms scheduled. We went through those 2 and then opened it up for anyone else who would want to be baptized. There were people in the audience who told us after that they were thinking, “Yeah right…no one is going to go up there.” But the spirit of God moved in the hearts of 6 more people. (It was nothing that we did. 9 people by the end of the day and 4 of them were teens.) It was awesome. One man in particular that seemed like a huge rock when it came to emotions was up with us in tears. It was increditable!!
But God didn’t stop there. I was scheduled to preach in the evening service. At dinner after the service I didn’t feel that what I had to preach was what God wanted me to say. Now, this was a big thing for me. There have been 2 other times where I felt I should change the message and didn’t. Because what if the sermon didn’t come together…what if I look like a fool? But Sarah encouraged me to spend time on it and if I didn’t I was really limiting God. So I did, I changed my whole message. Usually I have 12 half pages, (like Pastor John Symonds taught us) but last night I had a full page of points…not a manuscript. I talked about how we as a church are fake…how we play church every Sunday leaving the same way we came in. That we need to take off the masks we ware, the ones with the painted smiles on them. In Matthew 23: 25-28 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and calling them hypocrites. For they clean the outside of the dish and leave the inside dirty. People in the church struggle with deep sin in their lives, such as bitterness, judging, envy, greed, self-indulgence, and lustful thoughts. Sometimes we think we can get away with them because no body knows. But we will stand before God, and there will be an account of everything we’ve done. One thing that really hit me was a question that a pastor asked in his sermon a couple of week ago. “If you died today, would you be ready to meet Him and would He let you in Heaven?” I sat there thinking, “Yeah I know I will get into heaven….but do I really want to stand before God with the crap in my life. The Bitterness, the judgmental spirit…..”
So where do we go from here as a church. I feel God telling us to move toward being more open and honest with each other. Not warring those masks that we put on to come to church. Mark Hall said this:

“I don’t think it bothers the world that we sin. I think it bothers the world that we act like we don’t. There are times that instead of being myself and exposing my own weakness and hurt, I portray a character of the person that I know I should be. But when I expose myself as weak and frail at times, it frees the Body of Christ to restore me as it should and invites others to unmask as well.”

So I invited them to unmask and God moved. It was nothing that I did except allow myself to be used by Him. And in turn he lifted me up and freed me and others in the church….God is good!!

Switchfoot

2005-09-22T09:32:00.000-04:00

I just got the new SwitchFoot CD. I love their sound, but I am very disappointed at their lyrics. They sing about politicians and how sex sells everything these days. But there isn’t really a mention of God or even the notion of Him. I found myself really trying to find the message in their songs. I guess I just have been used to Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, Three Season Ant, and Starfield lately. Their lyrics are in your face, there is no doubt what they are singing about…God. Switch Foot (as far as I know) used (In my eyes) to be Christian singers. But slowly have watered down the message, and this doesn’t sit right with me. If your not going to be a Christian band that’s fine. But if you are a Christian and have accepted Christ in your life (Which I think the band members have) don’t you have a duty to spread is Message and love, not just sit on the fence. Now, I’m by no means saying that I’m the best at spreading Gods love and message. Anyway....let me say again that I do like the CD and will still listen to it. I was just expecting something else.

untitled

2005-09-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

Over the past couple of weeks I have been really convicted about my relationship with God. I really don’t know how to put it into words. I am frustrated where I am spiritually. I continually look for that great book or something. I just want to know Him, to not have any reservations. I say all that to say pray for me….I hope I can look back on this point and say it was a turning point. But right now all I can see is the junk I carry around with me everywhere I go, and I put on this fake plastic smile. God wants honesty! Romans 8 says:

“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Vacation

2005-08-22T09:41:00.000-04:00

Hey all....yes I finally get to go on vacation. I am leaving around dinner time today and going to Grand Manan for a couple of days than to sussex to see sarah's parents. Sometimes vacation isn't really vacation. Some, if not most people stuff so much stuff into a short amount of vacation time that when they get back they are more tired after it.
On another unrelated note I have been thinking about things or stuff lately. I always seem to want more stuff. I tell myself that once I get this item I will be happy. I'm like the donkey or ass that has the carrot on a string dangling in front of him, every time I take a step it keep moving away. Or when I finally get the carrot another takes its place. One thing I'm looking at now is climbing school. ( http://www.acadiamountainguides.com/ ) I say to myself that I could really use this for ministry. Maybe get into the school and teach a gym class and the teens would get to know me. But once I get that there is the climbing gear that I have to buy or maybe the computer upgrade that I want....It never ends. Maybe I have to become like John Nash in the movie "A beautiful Mind." He has Schizophrenia and ends up in the end of the movie living with and ignoring the people his mind creates instead of taking meds. Not that I would have to take meds for this but just live with it instead of becoming a slave to it.

Ford Windstar

2005-08-15T07:35:00.000-04:00

The busy week is finally over!! This past weekend I went to Fredericton for my brother-in-laws wedding, which was really nice. On Friday night I had to drive Jackson Brown to the hotel where he was staying that night before the wedding the next day. On the way there we came across this (What seemed to be) 16 year old driven a Ford Windstar Minivan with the tunes super loud. In my mind I’m thinking, “Yeah your real cool buddy! Driven your parent’s minivan with your music really loud and your girlfriend in the passenger seat.” So we drive on and leave him in traffic and at a few stop lights later, how do we see? That’s right Ford Windstar guy. He is waiting for the light to change right beside me and we are in the front…no cars in front of us. (Two lane intersection right be the daily Gleaner.) So I look over at him and give him the nod with my head as if to say, “Way to go” but in my mind I think this guy is an idiot. I mean I was there once, but I never drove a mini van….it was a truck and u can turn the music up in a truck. So I give him the nod and he smiles and gives it back. Unknowing to me that nod for him meant, lets race. So when the light turned green he floors it squealing his tires and taken off, only to drive in the Wendy’s driveway only 50 feet away. I could stop laughing….its a minivan!!! Maybe you had to be there.

Pipe Dreams DO come true!!!

2005-08-09T07:40:00.000-04:00

Well it finally happened; one of my pipe dreams has come true. Yesterday I made some pickles with Lance. (A teen in my youth group) We made five bottles of pickles; hopefully we will make more before the summer is over. We could have made more but the cucumbers were way too big, we let them grow to long. Lance took a big cucumber and put the whole thing in a jar of it’s own without cutting it to see what would happen. Pictures to follow. As nice as this is to finally have an idea come to be, I now can't help think what to do next. Do I try to build the boat I refered to in my first post, (there is a link) or do I try to get my climbing certification?
Anyway on another not I have recently watched all three Harry Potter movies. Now I know that watching the movies isn't the same as reading the books, but I hate reading. Maybe the next thing I could do is read book four (The Goblet of Fire) before the movie comes out in Novermber, but have u seen the size of it...well we'll see.
Well I must be off the senior pastor is away and I have to preach twice this week, do youth tonight, prayer meeting, and go to my brother-in-law’s wedding Friday and Saturday. I just thought I would let you all share in the joy of my pipe dream.

Hey what are some of your pipe dreams? Have they ever come true?

Skeptic

2005-08-03T08:52:00.000-04:00

Recently I have discovered that I am quite the skeptic. I think it has happened since I’ve been married, not that that has anything to do with it. Everything I see on TV, read in the new paper (despite popular belief I do read more than the funnies), hear other people talk about, and sometimes things I see I and skeptical of. I think that this new found skepticism has been brought on (Not to sound like some psycho. seeing conspiracy theories everywhere) by the government. You can’t believe one thing the Canadian Gov’t says and I have got burned by them in the past two years so that thought might be jaded.
But let’s take a look at something else….the News shows on TV or even the news papers. They don’t have a clue what’s going on! They will give us half story and fill in the rest with words like: “could possibly be,” or “sources think.” Next time you watch the new on a breaking story listen for what they really know as fact and stuff they just think could possibly be. But is someone was to have a news show that only gave you the news instead of some new and the rest speculation no one would watch it because it would be boring. We might as well be watching Entertainment Tonight. This brings me to my last thing. Have you ever thought that actors just make up a relationship? What better way to get yourself in the headlines. They are actors…its not like they couldn’t pull it off. Let me know what you think.

ben

Climbing

2005-07-26T17:09:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!! It has been quite a while since my last post. Reason….I’m lazy.
However, there has been a lot going on. I went to Beulah family camp where I became a Reverend. I planted some lemon seeds I got out of a lemon at the grocery store. I doubt I will have any lemons any time soon….but it is fun just to say I’m growing a lemon tree. Finally, I would like to tell everyone about my rock climbing experience. Now, I love extreme stuff. I always have these crazy ideas of making zip lines and putting a rock wall on the back of the church. (Which would be awesome!!!) So when Tim Branscombe came up with his climbing gear I naturally wanted to go. Tim, Scott, my wife Sarah, and I, went to a rock cut that seemed pretty nice; however, there was a lot of loose rock which slowed the climbing process because you continually had to make sure the rock you were holding on to wasn’t going to let go. Tim went first and made it about half way up before stopping because he couldn’t find enough holds to keep going. Myself being the avid tree climber that I am thought I could do it. As I started up, I was continually pulling out loose rock and slowly making my way up until I came to the point Tim had stopped at and realized that it wasn’t as easy as it looked from the ground. I did find some other places to hold on to and kept going. About this time I was feelin’ pretty good about myself. As you can see in the picture there is a big rock just above me. As I reached and held on to that rock it started to move. I can remember thinking, “This isn’t good,” as the rock (which seemed to be moving in slow motion) rolled over my hand and hit my leg. After which the rock feel to the ground, broke into pieces, and a portion almost hit Tim who was belaying me down below. It was an awesome experience, only because I didn’t have any broken bones and Tim was ok. Despite the fact that I was bleeding from a couple of scratches and a large hole had been ripped in my jeans I wanted to keep going. I was over half way to the top and I wanted to finish my climb, but at the advice of Sarah, Tim, and Scott I decided to come down….I was lucky I didn’t get killed….It was Awesome! Funny thing is, right before the large rock fell Tim asked Sarah, “Doesn’t watching him do this make you nervous?” She responded, “It used to but not anymore. I pretty much had to adjust and support him in what he likes to do because he supports me in what I like to do.” The experience hasn’t made her change her mind about me rock climbing though, she’ll just pray even more the next time I decide to go!

2005-06-22T09:27:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while since my last post, stuff happens. I would like to highlight on two things in this post:
1. The Garden – many people close to me know that I have a deep love for dill pickles. Because of this I and a couple of teen from my youth group have set out to make our own pickles. My wife didn't think it was going to happen… “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she says. She has every right to doubt the latest pipe dream of mine, because so often they don’t ever come true. (Let me just say that I know it is really sad to have a desire to make pickles) Well we have made it a step toward our goal. Two weeks ago we planted the garden, and I was feel’n pretty good about myself. I thought “ha, no one will laugh when I’m eating lots of pickles!!” But then I realized what a sad statement that was and that planting the garden isn’t the hardest part. We still have to weed the garden, pick the cucumbers, and wash them ect. We planted 3 rows of cucumbers, 8 rows of corn (You can never have enough corn....of course you only borrow it), 1 row of carrots, and various other things. I’ll keep you up to date; as I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat in anticipation.
2. Vacation – Last week I took a week of vacation. I thought it was awesome that it rained ALL WEEK. I’m back this week and feel like I need to take a vacation from the vacation. We often (Not just me) pack so much into a vacation that we don’t even have time to stop and pee. Maybe it’s because us Pastors only get 2 weeks vacation when they start out. Don’t get me wrong I had a great vacation. However, three quarters of the way through the vacation I was hitting a punching bag at my brother-in-law’s house in Fredericton. I was feel’n good in my punching (if one can have punching bag abilities) until the last punch. As I hit the bag pain….MUCH PAIN went from my neck into my lower back. I knew right away that this was bad. After five minutes I could turn my neck, and the pain didn’t go away. I tried to hide it from my wife, but it soo became evident that that wasn't going to happen. It was sooo bad that I thought I would have to get Sarah to help me out of bed the next morning. (What a way to end vacation) Now here I am two chiropractic sessions later back at work with a stiff neck and still in some discomfort (That’s a awesome word and shall be this week word of the week….Discomfort….excuse me doctor, I’m in discomfort…haha…PAIN…..maybe you have to be in my head for it to be funny)

have a good one

Picking Rocks

2005-06-08T13:38:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

I'm pretty happy how this Blog thing is going! (Of course this is only the second post, but hey at least there is a second post)
Yesterday was a pretty crazy day in my books. I had the opportunity to go visit/work on a potato farm. I told one of the farmers in the church that I was trying to get some money to buy some climbing equipment (Which is another pipe dream of mine). He said the I should come work for him a couple of days picking rocks (I have never picked rocks before in my life). I thought this would be great, however it turned out to be a LONG day. I had to walk behind a John Deer tractor roughly 10 hours and picking up rocks and throwing them into a cart. I'm not talk'n small rocks either....Some of them required two people to lift. Lets just say I am really sore and sunburned today and the sun wasn't even out yesterday.
Now that I have some money I just want to spend it on my wife and thats probably what i'll do...So i'm no feather ahead in the climbing equipment area. But it will happen!!!

Welcome

2005-06-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my first post! One thing that people need to realize in reading my blog is that I am the worst speller and my grammer is awful. But in order for me to be successful at this I need you all to accept that.
I titled my blog pipe dream because I am a dreamer and have always been that way. Since I have been here in the lovely town of Perth-Andover I have come up with a number of crazy ideas. For example, I had an idea last year to build an ultra light helicopter. Sounds fun doesn't it! It would have worked to until realized that I needed a 45 horse power engine. Now where am I going to get that. Also I guess that the propellers need to be tilted just so to get lift.
I also had an idea to built a speed boat, which could have happened, but I lacked the money. Here is a link to the plans: http://www.popularmechanics.com/outdoors/boating/1277141.html
Now the plan is to plant a garden. Myself and a couple of teens from my youth group are going to plant cucumbers so we can make our own dill pickles. Bet u wish u were in on it!! We're going to have tons of pickles....I'll let u know how it turns out