of 38 bills

so bill C-38 has officially passed through parliament. in a short month, it will be officially endorsed by the senate, and Canada will be the 3rd country in the world to support homosexual marriages....hooray!! now maybe the church can move onto more important matters, such as reaching out, loving and guiding those struggling with their sexual orientation instead of condemning them all to hell. hoowee, do i sound cynical or what? sorry.

i tend to look at the positive in situations. in this situation, here is the positive that i see: the government has remained true to its terms that it will not force the church to perform homosexual marriages. awesome! the church should be celebrating that its government supports religious freedom in this country, not condemning the government for turning its back on the church (isn't there something called the separation of church and state in this country?). obviously, this could be taken to the extreme. i hope the government doesn't separate from the church to the extend that the 10 commandment law to not murder will be deemed 'too religious', and therefore should be banned from Canadian law (despite the fact that there are a number of 10 commandement laws that are not recognized in Canadian law). i think that Canadian churches have gotten to the point that, since their money is going to missionaries in foreign countries, they can sit back and relax and enjoy the fact that their money is being put to good work -- that they are 'evangelizing by donation'. unfortunately, that breeds comfort in our church community to the extent that the only way churches feel they can reach out to their neighbour is through politics, not through actually talking to their neighbour. more cynicism. sorry. but i wonder if this trend of our government freeing itself from the church will force the church to be uncomfortable in its own country to the extent that it is forced back to the basics of Christ's teaching that changed people's hearts, not anti-political scheming...something Christ never really got into.

long drives.

i came to a sad realization on the drive up to Vernon yesterday. the drive from Abbotsford to Vernon is about 4 hours (3:50, to be exact). A flight to Ontario is about the same amount of time. Cost difference? About $400. Krikee. I guess one advantage of sitting alone in a car for four hours is that one has time to reflect on such realities. and then write a poem:

An Ode to Jetsgo

Oh, Jetsgo,
Why did you have to ... go?
You had the best prices
And now we're in crisis
As prices have soared
Too much for the poor.
Oh Jetsgo,
Why did you have to go?

so here i am, driving along the coquihalla highway, passing by mountains and mountains and rivers and trees. lots of trees. you know how on drives like that, you kind of zone out and find yourself just driving but not really paying attention to what's going on around you? i found a cure for that. while in 'the zone', manicuring by teeth, i looked up. i don't know how i saw it ... come to think of it, i don't know how i missed it. standing on the shoulder of the highway was a rather large deer. i'm talking a foot from the solid white line that separates the driving lane from the shoulder. you know, the line that we humans are trained not to cross over unless we have our four-way blinkers on and / or are missing a tire. deer don't follow driving rules, and hence, this deer probably didn't understand why there was a white line beneath it's hooves. we had a moment, this deer and i. we literally looked in eachother's eyes. and while i'm quite thankful it ran the other way, i'm not sure why it did. was it because it realized it was no match for my super swift? or was it because i yelled 'Holy Shit!' so loud that my words frightened it off? at any rate, it kept me out of 'the zone' for the remainder of the trip. hello Vernon!

cool things

i'm worried. i know i shouldn't be, but i am. i'm worried because i am loving my job more and more, and i'm loving the youth more and more. i'm worried because, aside from my own unfounded (or confounded) inadequacies, i feel like the anvil is bound to drop sooner or later. i guess a part of it is that i'm still in the honeymoon stage, and the church is just loving the fact that they have a youth director. but more than that, God has been allowing the coolest things to happen right off the bat. i was talking to my sister about this a bit today. seriously, i am getting along well with the youth, and to me, that's the most important thing. if it weren't so, this job would tear me apart.

perhaps the pinnacle of 'coolest things to happen' would be a conversation i had today with an 18-year old youth. this guy is not a part of any church, but has decided that Christianity is the religion for him. as he says, 'it makes the most sense'. in his 'quest for Christianity', he went to a church program one night, through which i was put in contact with him. previous to today, i have had two conversations with him. today he told me he wants to get baptized. dunked. in a lake. he's got a lot of sin he wants washed off. how cool is that? i have to admit, i have had absolutely no part in his coming to this decision (i think God's been working on him for awhile), but i am quite excited that he chose me to be a part of if. see what i mean about God allowing the coolest things to happen? see why i'm scared of the anvil?

good week.

it's been a good week. probably the best in a long time. currently listening to the new coldplay album -- and lovin' it. watched star wars last night -- and loved it. depressing as it was, it gives me hope that there are still people out there who know how to release decent non-clichéd movies. guns. bombs. car chases. they're in the latest previews, and in all new movies it seems. that and comic book characters.

anyway, so most of this week has been spent with the pastor meeting with students who are doing public profession of their faith (in the christian reformed world, that's speak for saying 'I love God and will continue pursuing him in my life'). very cool. good to hear each one share where they're at and why they want to stand on a stage and annouce to a congregation of people that they love God. it's been a good chance to step out of my comfort zone, to nudge students to the edge of theirs and to get to know the pastor. it's been a good week.

kids.

I have this innate fear of raising children. Don't get me wrong, children are great...it's not that I don't like children. It's just that kids are fun to be around for a few hours before they need to go back to their owners. I babysat for the first time in eons yesterday. Two little rugrats that belong to my roommate's sister. Good kids, for the most part. It's funny though, I have noticed children's behaviours in various situations over the last couple days and it's given me an insight into what's wrong with the world today:

Tim Horton's, Saturday around 4:00pm. Whilst standing in line awaiting the coveted Tim Horton's coffee, a young East Indian laddie awaits along the window with his parent. Along comes a caucassian young laddie who stands beside first laddie and proceeds to tap the first laddie on the shoulder. First laddie turns his head to second laddie. Second laddie raises his hand, and waves to first laddie with a smile. Several minutes pass by, first laddie has moved onto the world of Tim Horton's feasting. Second laddie and I are still in line when along comes laddie number three. Laddie number three walks over to a chair that faces second laddie, sits down and waves at second laddie with a smile. A little coffee shop of innocent cheer , thought I. Timmy would be proud.

Church, Sunday around 12:00pm. About 30 young lads and lasses stand in choir formation at the front of the church, belting out various songs for our enjoyment (and entertainment). Far to the left is a young white girl with devolpmental disabilities. Next to her is a young asian girl. The final song calls for the choir to join hands and in one disjointed manouevre, raise and lower connected hands on cue. Little asian girl firmly grips the hand of the girl beside her and will not let her go. Discriminiation is not in the vocabulary of a four-year old.

A house in Abbotsford, Sunday around 5:30pm. Babysitting. Sitting on a couch watching a movie. I discover a little joy that most parents must appreciate. Five year old boy, who previously sacked me (four times), decides that he's had his fun and will sit gently beside me with my arm around him and (I think) enjoy the fact that someone genuinely cares for him. This moment lasts only a few short minutes before he's off on another quest to destroy my body, but it was kinda cool. I may not actually be able to have kids after this experience, but hey.

All in all, it was an interesting little foray into how life on earth should be. Maybe it's not so much our role as adults to teach kids, but to learn from them.