Breakforth and Multiply!!!!

So Breakforth was fantastic. Not FANTASTIC!!!! But still pretty cool. I got to sit in on all of Peter Wagners sessions on Spiritual Gifts, very cool. If you do not know who Peter Wagner is well you are just missing out. Imagine the dearest old man you can think of fill him with really great knowledge and yes I did say dearest but there is just simply no other way to describe him. I learned a ton. And guess what! My Spiritual Gifts are leadership, teaching, and knowledge, very cool and the greatest part is that they really have nothing to do with me but what God does through me which is even better or like down right amazing. I know it is not really a definitive science or anything but its really cool to get a glimpse into where God is leading me in my life and all that jazz.
The main speakers were really great as well, well most of them anyway, one guy was a little rough to say the least but God did some very cool stuff though his talk anyway. KP Yohansen was one of my favorites. He talked about getting back to the basics in ministry and really focusing on Jesus, a pretty simple message but one you can never hear too much. And I mean the guy is so interesting and fun to listen too kinda like an East Indian Albert Einstein minus the boring math junk. Of corse the worship was super as well Darrel Evans, Tim Hughs, nad of course Kutless (if anyone is asking "cut-what??!!" you just gotta pick up their worship album, very nice) I don’t want to sound like it was all cool just because there were a bunch of big names there but if you have ever heard or seen these guys you know they are all all about Jesus and He is well… beyond amazing!!
And the cool thing is I don’t feel like I just had this mountain top experience that I’m gonna come crashing down from (no matter what this blog sounds like) it was very down to earth, exciting, but very real.
Plus I got'ta hang out with a really great friend of mine Justina and her very cool friend Kim all weekend and that was super too.
Man do I sound like a blubbering idiot or what? But such is life, it was cool.
Take it easy guys
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Whats the Point?

I had Bible study last night. I’ve been pretty sick lately so I didn’t really have time to prepare anything, I figured we would watch a couple Christian comedian DVD’s. The first one I will admit was not all that great it wasn’t absolutely horrible but was defiantly lacking. The biggest problem was though that as soon as the kids heard it was a "Christian comedian" they immediately decided it could not possibly be funny "only Adults find stuff like that funny". Unfortunately the opening act did not sway their opinion. The second one though was really funny, it was just a bunch of clips form different comedians and every one cracked me up, and despite their best intentions even elicited a few laughs from the three guys who in particular were against such a variety. The one clip in particular was really hilarious with these three guys on stage doing improve. Everyone was cracking up until on a wide shot one of the kids exclaimed "Hey!! They’re in a church" well then it was just not so funny. They said it was because they just weren’t funny but the kids were laughing before they realized it was in a church but thought it was lame afterwards. I tried to get some sort of discussion going but it would only revert to family guy clips. Maybe it is our fault. Maybe we have ingrained this idea of church that is like oil and water with the rest of life as kids see it. Maybe it is a culture that has waged war against the idea of accountability and an ultimate morality. Perhaps it has chosen the church and God as it’s primary target with such success that even Church kids see it as stuffy and out of date without using their own experience and wisdom to discern the truth. I myself have declared something’s less exciting because it is "churchy". It angers me and frustrates me, that "church" has become synonymous with "boring". Yet this still excites me the name of Christ provokes reactions far from boring. You talk to someone about Jesus and even if they do not heed you or try to shut you out his name still gets a reaction. People get angry, scared, or defensive, or else better yet feel hope and the fire of faith ignited in their hearts, but they do not get bored. Perhaps that was the problem, it was too churchy and not enough Jesus.
But this problem still remains; we allow our preconceived perceptions dictate our opinions before we allow ourselves to experience something for what it is. If it is Churchy it is boring if it is nerdy we can’t enjoy it, if it won’t explode than really what the point. If it rambles on and gets further and further away from any sort of point it must be a blog.
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Goob ay ...

Today I am just tuckered right out. On Sunday I "brought the message" which apparently is completely different from doing or giving the sermon, According to pastor Dave anyway, and well Who am I to argue. Then I "brought the message" at Rimoka, the local retirement village and soap opera. And in the evening I brought the message at the community Chapel service at The champion center, sort of a halfway house for men from the psychiatric hospital. Though all of that I must have shook at least five hundred hands, it’s a wonder I even have skin left. Someone or a few of them must have had some sort of virus. Now I feel like I am swimming though a bowl of Jell-O, every movement is labored and every sound I make is missing at least one vowel or consonant and what is coming in my ears is a mix of Swedish Chef Gibberish and really bad jazz music. I knew the risks before going into ministry and I am not looking back now, but I think investing in some good hand sanitizer is in order.
Peace kids
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The Little Evil Srawberry

I think Canadian Tire is bad. I know that is not an entirely deep and profound thought but I need to warn anyone who considers taking their car to Canadian Tire not to do it. My car recently decided to die while in the parking lot of a Canadian Tire. I tried to get the thing going myself but to no avail. And in fact actually kinda bunged it up worse that when I started. I had AMA I could have had it towed anywhere but instead figured; "what the hey as long as I am here". Well they did "fix" it they gave me a new fuel pump and it worked for a grand total of two days. This morning I go to start my car and the exact same thing is happening that they had apparently fixed a couple days ago, it won’t start. So they messed it up or never even got the problem in the first place, and still charged me four hundred and fifty bucks. Now I am in Ponoka and the Canadian tire is in Red Deer I am not about to pay someone else to fix what they originally messed up. So to AMA it was and down to Red Deer. Sucks to be me. (Well ok not in the whole grand scheme of things but with this particular issue it is not what I would call pleasant) Anyway I will keep you posted but be warned of the mark of the evil strawberry.
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My life

Well It has been a while I know but Life is just not all that interesting for me what can I say. I think we need to move Ponoka on closer to Edmonton or Calgary. Don’t get me wrong I love Ponoka it is nice and small People say hi to you. Any time you go anywhere you are bound to run into someone you know. This is just super. But unfortunately everyone I know is somewhat older than me or has a job where they go to bed at like 9:00 at night, or have kids to put to bed or any other such nonsense. That’s when I am normally getting off work! It just does not jive. So to find someone to hang out with I would have to drive two hours to Calgary or an hour over to Camrose or an hour to Edmonton and by that time these other people are probably all in the process of winding down themselves. Not to mention the whole gas and making me broke thing. How lame is that. Life is just not fair I tells ya. But then again who ever said it was. And there are a lot worse problems to have I know, but such is life.
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Off To War!!!!

Hey kids, Well here I be, safe and un-scathed. New Years was great, a little less eventful than the last one but since the last one involved my car’s engine being completely encapsulated in ice I think less eventful may not be entirely so bad. And I am glad to say I am one of the very few people I know who came through without ending up engaged or shipped off unawares to join the French Foreign Legion. Ok so I don’t know anyone who inadvertently or advertently for that matter, joined the French Foreign Legion but a number of my friends not to mention my little sister did get engaged. Personally I would have gone with the legion but hey we are not here to judge.
So now there will be another family wedding. Not too bad I enjoy a good party. Though I doubt that I will be in the wedding party, I will most likely be forced to stand and smile for pictures. I don’t know what it is about pictures but they just drive me batty. The average family snap around the dinner table or with friends is no big deal and can be fun, but there is just something about standing around having a billion pictures taken pose after pose that just drives me crazy. I know I have issues but who doesn’t. Anyway congratulations Sarah and Dave, Bobby and Tim (not "The Greatest Tim" but he still seems pretty swell), Ryan and Kristy, Jon and Donna, (told you there were a lot!!!) Hope you like cacti
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