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Sunday ramblings...

Saturday was a wonderful celebration of marriage as Ryan Alexander and Lyndsay Forth tied the knot at Filberg Park. I had the privelege of performing the ceremony. Pastor Corey did a great job of MCing the reception as fun was had by all. The family even had arranged for a kid appropriate table with colouring, games and such for the kids. it was the most fun that our kids had had at a reception!

After being away last week, it was wonderful to return to our church family this Sunday. Pastor Scott preached a great message. He talked about how important it is to be families that actually impact and shape the culture rather than being shaped by the culture. The bottom line was that a family needs to live on mission or it will be 'out of commission'! We cannot live lives that are simply for our benefit. They must be lived for and under the mission of Jesus. We must teach our children and families to live missionally rather than 'doing what is right in our own eyes!' A great challenge!

After church, we went out on the boat. We didn't even go out on it last summer. As you may recall, the weather was less than the best this past summer. I was not excited to put gas into it at $1.30 a litre! However, we were out with some friends (the Fitzgeralds) and went tubing. It was great fun as we saw our children laughing and screaming and enjoying time together. The water was F R E E Z I N G! Hopefully we will get some good hot weather and warm that lake up some.

In the evening, we played the board game, "blokus" . Chris and Esther Graham introduced us to this game and we went out and got it for ourselves. Great fun - even if I didn't win. :-)

Tomorrow is Canada Day and the parade and all that the day entails. Should be fun! Hopefully we all take time to pause and be thankful for what God has given us!

Gloucester Girls Gone Wild

It is a challenge to raise kids today!
"The latest what's-the-matter-with-kids-today story comes from Gloucester, Mass., and it's a jaw-dropper. According to Time, a group of 15-and 16-year-old girls at Gloucester High School made a "pregnancy pact" -- an agreement that they would all get pregnant and then raise their kids together." The problem seems to be the devaluing of the role of a father. Click here for the full story.

It means right away!

In our home we have an ongoing challenge of teaching our kids the importance of obedience. Basically, we are challenged with delayed obedience, which is actually disobedience.

But as I was reading Mark chapter 1 this morning in the NAS version I realized that perhaps the children are not the only ones that have a problem with true obedience. Something really stood out to me as i read. It was the word, "immediately" which means, "
directly, that is, at once". In other word - IMMEDIATELY.
In 45 verses this word shows up 8 times! I went back and reviewed them.

• v. 10 "And immediately, coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens parting"
• v. 12 After baptism... "and immediately, the Spirit drove Him (Jesus) into the wilderness
• v. 18 After Jesus called Simon and Andrew, "They immediately left their nets and followed Him."
• v. 20 After Jesus saw James and John, "And immediately He called them."
• v. 21 "And immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue (church building) and taught
• v. 28 After casting out evil spirits..."and immediately His fame spread"
• v. 31 After touching Simon's sick mother-in-law (Jesus loves mothers in law :-) ) "immediately the fever left her"
• v. 42 The leper came asking for healing and "As soon as He (Jesus) had spoken, immediately the leprosy left"

What's the point? I saw a few things for my life.

1. There was an abiding purpose (Baptized, wilderness, gather a team, church, healing) such that the next step for Jesus' life never seemed to be in question.
2. The Spirit of God was intimately involved in directing Jesus' life. I need to open my ears and listen ALL THE TIME so that I can be directed and initiate rather than respond to life.
3. Sickness immediately responded to Jesus. Lord, show me what gets in the way of immediate manifestation of God's power in and through my life.
4. The disciples responded with immediate obedience rather than questioning and reasoning themselves out of His calling. Father, help me do this.

Basically, I need to listen more, obey more quickly and watch the good that Jesus does in and through my life.

Will a 'Green Shift' make any difference?

Assuming you buy the rhetoric around global warming and climate change, you may be thinking that the Liberal Party's 'Green Shift' is great stuff. But when you really look at it (check out the link to see the big picture) will it really make a difference? Oh well, we're still glad we bought this in April when gas was cheap at 1.20 a litre.

Golf Lessons

Today we had the fun of going out on the par 3 golf course here. We had some lessons, but they certainly weren`t from the golf pro!

At the end of the 4th hole - that`s only how far we made it before we quit - i stopped everyone to ask what we learned.
Anika said that she learned how important it is to focus when there were so many thing happening. We were seeing marmots going by, birds singing, lawn mowers, etc.
Alaina commented that she learned it was important to not run ahead so that you don`t get hit by a ball from the people behind you. Alexandra said that there was just too much going on at the same time.

So we talked about how those help us in life. (trying to indoctrinate them into golf). Focus helps us to do what is really important. We can`t run ahead without thinking. finally - sometimes there`s just so much going on, you`re going to make some mistakes. Learn to laugh at yourself.

They weren`t the only ones learning though. There were some points where I was starting to get frustrated at young ladies wanting to have some goof off times on the golf course. I had to (with Shanda`s encouragement :-) ) step back. Let the girls have fun. Enjoy the relationships and memories with them. When there was a teachable moment, take it. In other words, R E L A X and have fun with everyone together!

So - for life - Focus, think, laugh at yourself and life, and RELAX and enjoy the people you`re with.

Okanagan time

We had a great start with church service in Surrey. Saw some friends. shanda and I met at this church back before global warming. Bible College definitely had a great side benefit...(or maybe Bible College was the side benefit to meeting shanda - yea, that's it!)

The family and I spent the day traveling to get here. We are looking forward to several days of rest in the sun and by the water. We're all going golfing tomorrow morning. That should be good for some laughs and memories.

Canucks make smart pick

No Sedin twins trade yet...GM Mike Gillis denies he's shopping them. Maybe true as there was no swapping the #10 pick - Cody Hodgson. Apparently a great all around player with real grit, character and leadership. Hopefully he turns out as good as this Canuck first round pick...

This could be interesting...

Sedins traded this weekend?? Might be! How about Luoungo for Evgeni Malkin?

REGULATION OVERLOAD

Is it just me, or does it seem like the various levels of government are regulating life more and more? Comox was debating whether or not to ban clotheslines because of 'visual pollution'. Some staff were suggesting even banning automatic clothes dryers because they 'pollute too much'. You can read about those here. Courtenay is preparing to spend $17 million for water metering because we apparently use too much water. Courtenay is set to ban every backyard fire on the grounds that it pollutes your neighbour's air. What's next? Banning the BBQ because the smell goes into my neighbours airspace? The carbon tax is coming into effect to tax us into greenness (allegedly). The money will be going into general revenue, so it is unlikely that there will be much change. There's a provincial law coming into effect that says you will need to have a car seat for your child up to age 9! (subject to weight and height issues). BC is also preparing to ban smoking in a car if you have a child in it. Will they soon be regulating whether or not you can feed your children at McDonalds because the fat and grease make them susceptible to heart disease?

More and more the state is creeping into the private affairs of citizens, all under the guise that 'they know better.'

Now many of these issues need to be addressed. However, instead of bringing out the stick of regulation all the time, perhaps they could invest in education and positive incentives to encourage change OR here's a radical thought - stay out of people's private personal lives? I have thoughts on many of these political issues and will be talking about them over the next while.

I can see clearly now...

It was great to see our good friend Dr. Tanya Flood be recognized for her work as an optometrist. She received the President's Award from BC Optometry association. Check it out here. Tanya is so passionate about proper eye care.

Not only that, her people skills are amazing. She has this God given gift - and she also works hard at it - to make people feel important. We are privileged to have the Flood family in our lives and Dr. Tanya Flood as our doctor. If you're looking for one you can find Dr. Flood in CR or Courtenay. If she is not available, any one of the others are great doctors as well. Congratulations, Tanya!!

Back at it

There is a beer commercial that goes to great lengths to advertise that it is always time for that particular beer. Whether things are good, bad, happy or sad - it is time for that beer. I've been razzed enough over the years with 'hey it's Millar Time,' that I thought that I'd use it to title the blog...I was blogging last year for awhile, but stopped cause there was just too much going on. Still lots going on, but I'll see how it goes. So - I'm back. I intend to write about whatever is getting on my nerves, what's exciting me, what's making me laugh or cry and random comments on current events. I am a bit of a political junkie so expect political commentary - some that you might not even like. Beyond that - who knows. Check in often to Millar Time.