love like rockets
This Sunday our church is soft launching two new campuses in cities surrounding the original location. Nicole and I are not new to the multi-location model, but so far we like the approach our church is taking. We’re part of the seed team for the campus closest to our home: Nicole is on the Welcome team, I’m directing the Tech team. The soft launch will start with just the seed teams. Both campuses ended up finding schools to meet in.
We used Church In a Box, who surveyed our locations then acquired the equipment and a trailer, and built storage so that everything rolls easily into, and out of, the trailer and can (in theory) be set-up in about 15 minutes. This Saturday the equipment arrives and we get our first training on it — they said to expect it to take 4 hours the first time we do it!
Sunday we have our first service, but it’ll just be our team. We’ll set-up the equipment, run live worship, roll last week’s recorded video, and the campus pastor will speak briefly. Over the next 4 weeks we’ll squash the bugs, get more efficient at set-up, and begin to welcome the community. The hard launch is at the end of March.
Our home church is big, established and healthy… but tucked at the back end of town: even if we had room for lots more people, its tough to draw them out from the 401 corridor that defines Southwestern Ontario into our neck of the woods. By putting campuses in areas with lots of people, but not lots of churches, we hope to be able to reach more and build a larger community. One campuses is in a affluent, growing area, the other is in an area generally populated by immigrants living at or near the poverty line. One area has material wealth, but cultural stagnation. The other has rich, global culture, without the materialism that infects North Americans so easily. The church needs to reach, partner with and serve both sets of people.
Its hard leaving our home church — even though we’re still a part of that community, its in an extended way now. But its exciting to be a part of a new work that God is doing.
And I’m doing by best to cling to that enthusiasm, and soak up the anticipation of those involved with us, so that I don’t draw unfair parallels between this operation and the last like it we were involved with that… failed to reach its promise.
Last week I had the priviledge of attending a Leadership Network Global Connection Summit with my church, along side a half dozen others. This was meeting #1 of 4 over the next two years, and our group is just one of the groups going through. The idea is to collect and share ideas and learning about how Global Missions work is changing as the world shrinks, thanks to technology and globalization.
The group running the program put out the 9 Game Changers for Global Missions document that made the rounds last year, and certainly resounded with Nicole and I.
You really should read the document if you have any interest in the topic, but a common thread is that the model for missions that used to work, is becoming less effective than it used to be. There are still some fields where that old approach works, but more and more, things are beginning to change.
Actually, it astounds me that things haven’t changed yet. At work I’m on a “Global Team” and commicate and work regularly with folks in India and Europe, and the thought had never crossed my mind that missions shouldn’t work the same way…
At any rate, my thoughts on this subject are much too complex for a blog post right now. On a random note, the event happened in Dallas, Texas, and since we had a little time before flying out, we decided to visit the place where JFK was shot. There was a very educational museum there, and surprisingly little has changed since the then-President’s motorcade drove through. You couldn’t stand at the exact window where Lee Harvey Oswald drew his rifle — but you could stand at the window next to it… and I tell you, it was like staring down into history.
I don’t know much about JFK’s politics, although I know the tendencies Democrats lean toward. I know he was a deeply flawed man. But I also know, in everything I’ve read and seen about him, that he was hopeful and earnest. That he and his beautiful, graceful wife built bridges with people, stared down nuclear war and stopped it, and in his short career as President (about 1000 days) sparked the imagination and goodwill of a generation.
I read a lot about it, and I don’t believe Oswald acted alone, for the same reason I do believe in global missions: this is a fallen world, where anger and hatred and jealousy and pride corrode. That the only thing that unites people faster than a common hope is common sin. And that when one man, even a President, stands against the darkness, he will eventually fall (or falter.) But when God’s people stand together, and speak His name in love and justice and hope, there is nothing that can stop the King of Creation from re-claiming His lost children…
A month is a long time in the life of a little person. Here are some things that happened while we were away…
There’s one more cute video on Vimeo, but you’ll have to stop by there to check it out!
Well we’re back from a month in sunny Florida, and let me tell you, it was great!
We had 25+ degree (celsius) weather virtually every day. The pool was a nice 85ish degrees (farenheit) and we swam in it at least once a day. The house was great, and the price was reasonable. We rented bikes a couple times, a pontoon boat once, and visited the beach 4 times. We ate outside regularly, the kids played in the grass (not many snakes/alligators/etc around during dry season) and visited museums and nature spots a few times.
We had two sets of visitors, with whom we did more of the vacation-type stuff. I even got in a round of golf with my old college roommate, Brad! Keeping score creatively, we did alright!
We had pre-found a church that we made our temporary home. It had a great childcare program, which even allowed us a “date night” one Saturday evening. Mostly it was our plan to just do our normal life, just in a warmer climate. I ended up a little further behind on work and school than I had hoped — despite my best intentions to stay focused. Nic also planned to keep up with Ben’s school work, but that didn’t happen as regularly as she would have liked either.
The trip home was a grueling 27 hours, with stops only for the potty and for meals. We left around 5:45am Monday morning, missing a massive lethal pile-up on I-75 by only a day, and arrived around 8:00am Tuesday morning. The older two kids stayed exactly on schedule, and were rested and ready to play in the (rapidly melting) snow when we arrived. Eli struggled a little more with sleep on the road, waking up every 20 minutes between midnight and 2am to complain about being stuck in a car seat before nodding back off. Nic and I took turns napping and driving, and although we were very tired and took some nap time on Tuesday, had no problem with the drive. The roads were great all the way through and although we were watching the temperature drop, it never fell below zero (celsius.)
It’s back into routine now, without much adaptation time — the kids will learn to live like daddy does, and hit the ground running wherever they land. On the whole, we were very pleased with our get-away, and its timing. Besides renting the place, and excluding vacation-stuff costs, our expenses weren’t much higher than living at home. We might tweak things a little next time, but we’ll definitely look into doing it again! Traditional vacations have never really seemed to work out for us :-p
It was a challenging year for all of us, physically, intellectually and professionally, but it paid off. Having our lives structured so we can do things like this is a real blessing from God, and an affirmation of the choices and priorities we’ve pursued. Pictures coming whenever Nic gets around to it!
Here we go again with another year, and I’m already behind on my annual retrospective post!
This past year has a lot to commend it, and a few things to condemn it. Three events, really, can sum it up — but of course there are additional details that shouldn’t be totally excluded.
We started the year possibly feeling a little chagrinned to discover that there would be no changes in the housing situation. Our little house in the prarie did not find a satisfactory buyer in the time we were willing to put into the effort, so we gave up and tucked in to wait for the new baby (and settled on a new van instead). Feeling not a little trapped, I was grateful to have a motorbike to experience a little adventure on. Little did I know how painful an adventure that bike would lead to!
By mid-May, I was confined to a bed with my leg in the air, while Nicole was home with a newborn, and two toddlers who needed their (obviously distracted) parents more than ever. Fortunately, my mom, who spends most of her time doing much better things overseas, was home to help prepare for my sister’s wedding, and was able to lend a helping hand — and then some!
Nicole was recovered, baby settled, and me hobbling in time for the aforementioned wedding — or two, as some very special girls wed the young men who’d become so important to them. We were excited that our family got to have a part in both ceremonies. We were excited too, to celebrate our own 10th anniversary.
With the summer over, and winter looming before us, promising more snow, gray and gloom than we really thought we could handle after such a tough year, we began plans for at least temporary escapes, affording the kids their first flights — among other things. Nicole found and booked us a vacation home in Florida for the entire month of January — something we’re enjoying even as I type this, and possibly our first successful (albeit hybrid) vacation ever!
And there you have it: 2011. Of course their was some home improvements, seminary, changes at work and various projects that I dove into, in the continuing hope that there will be more to life than what the last few years have offered us; there were first days of school, and soccer, and other new things for Ben and Abi — and the joy of seeing those things through their eyes. But at the dawn of a new year, with our philosophy of adventure looking a little battered and bruised by the winds of change and the realities of adult life, we are looking forward to finding, seizing and exploring more of the world that God gave us in 2012…
We made it! It was a long haul, especially after a night at a less-than-stellar hotel. I booked it online because it said it was the only Marriott in the area we were staying, but it turns out there were two, much better, much newer Marriott’s within a 2 block radius. By the time we figured that out, though, it was too late to change our plans. Besides, it was free, so we shouldn’t complain. The kids slept on a pull-out couch, while Eli’s pack and play was setup in the kitchen area. We were all too tired to care much.
We were up at 6, hoping to be on the road by 7 — and were pretty close to pulling that off. We went hard in the morning, stopping around 11:30 in Jacksonville, Florida soon after crossing the border. We had lunch at a Chic-Fil-A with a play place, and hit the road again. We’ve used up a good percentage of our data plan on NetFlix, plowed through numerous recharges of our electronic devices, ate lots of Nic’s pre-packed snacks, and slept as much as we could… but by 4pm we were in the right part of the state. Stopped in retirement central for Wendy’s and a potty break, called the property management place to inform them of our imminent arrival, and headed back out for the last stretch.
We arrived by 6pm — by working around the GPS that chose a much dumber router than Nicole figured out with Bing Maps — and excitedly ran into the place. It is nearly perfect. A little smaller than we’d thought, and kind of sparsely furnished, but what is here is nice. There’s plenty of room for our family, although it will be a little cozy when our guests arrived, and since we’re going to be spending most of our time around the pool anyway, size isn’t an issue.
It’s still cool here — at night and early morning, it probably always will be — but the pool is heated, and we’re acclimated to much colder temperatures, so we’re pretty comfortable. Today we’ll stake out the neighbourhood a bit, and then I’ll resume my normal work routine. Family arrives Saturday and I fly out for London, England on Tuesday. Life as normal — just in a warmer place!
The trip from Virginia Beach to South Carolina went without incident. All 3 kids are still doing so well. It helped that this was only a 7ish hour drive, rather than the day before’s 16 hour journey! We watched a couple movies on NetFlix and on the “new” Zune 30 that I’d had shipped to Jason and Brooke’s house – 100 hours of video on a $50, 5+ year-old device!
We’re running a little low on “mum mums” – Eli’s quick-dissolving rice snack that rescues us any time she gets a little emotional about being stuck in a car seat. We’ll have to ration them for the last day of the trip!
This evening we had dinner with friends in Columbia, SC. They were about to move to England for missions work last year, when their baby girl became suddenly very ill while in Belgium for pre-field training. They rushed home to confirm the local hospital’s diagnosis of Leukemia. Then spent the following months trying treatments to save her life. During that time they established a pretty neat ministry in their hospital and online through telling their story. Simi had quite a ministry of her own, but despite everyone’s best efforts, she passed away. Obviously they’ve been wrestling through what comes next, and how they should proceed. It was encouraging to see that their faith and their commitment to missions has not wavered, despite everything they’ve been through. Their other two daughters are close to Ben and Abi’s age, and Elizabeth and I knew each other in Germany many years ago, so it was great to visit with them. We look forward to seeing them sent out to the field!
The final leg is 9 hours, 20 minutes – plus pit stops, which will probably put us up to nearly 12 hours. But at the end of it, we’ll be “home” in Florida for the rest of the month! The weather has been cold all the way down, due to the arctic chill that has our home in Canada buried in snow and freezing, but we anticipate that temperatures will climb as the weather system passes – and as we get further south. We certainly hope we get to put on those shorts we packed soon!!
Sunday night, everyone went to bed early — mom and dad, after cleaning the house and packing the van. Monday morning we got up at 3am, climbed into the van, and hit the road. Everyone slept until about 7:30, while I drove. The border was a breeze — not that we expected issues, but with a month-long trip, you never know what kinds of questions they’ll ask. Another 12 hours after that, and we were pulling up to Jason and Brooke’s house in Virginia Beach.
The kids did extremely well – NetFlix on the van’s flatscreen helped, I’m sure. Ben and Abi did some colouring, and played a little of their new Nintendo DS. Everyone napped a lot, Eli not as much as we would have liked. She screamed when she was hungry or poopy or tired, but otherwise was as pleasant and happy.
We hit weather once, and traffic once. The weather was in Pennsylvania (no surprise there) where lake effect snow had us in white-out conditions for a while. This was the start of an arctic front that was supposed to hit our home neighbourhood later in the day, so we were pleased to be ahead of the majority of it. The traffic was a mysterious total stoppage in Virginia on I-64, where we were stuck for so long that people just shut off their cars for awhile. Suddenly it started moving again, and that was it: smooth sailing the rest of the way!
Its been great to visit with old friends from our time in New York. Our kids are close to the same age (Ben and Alivia used to take baths together as babies!) — in fact, Ben stayed with Brooke and Jason while Abi was being delivered! And encouraging to see that they’re the same awesome people, just living in a different place. Its been a short visit, as we need to be on the road in an hour or so, but we have 2 more legs to this journey, and more friends to see.
One of the things we want our kids to grow up with is a spirit of adventure. I’m finding my own a little depressed lately, what with the achy leg and the consuming responsbilities of the job necessary to provide for said kids, but we’re working on that. The kids have no such constraints, and I want them to know that this whole globe was given to us by our Creator to claim dominion over! He gave us a beautiful gift and we want them to grow up with a passion to explore it.
So we were very excited to bring them on their first flights — despite the challenges of dragging three kids (including a baby!) and all their stuff through three airports, across the continent and 3 time zones! Despite post-9/11 airport security. Despite jet lag. Despite a stomach flu that spent a day with almost each of us.
And really, we can’t complain. The trip was funded for me by my employer, and for my family mostly by Delta Rewards miles. We did have to buy one ticket — a first class one, since no others were available (even though there clearly were coach seats available!) — for Nicole, and meals for the family on our own. But all told, we took a week-long trip, driving a nice rental van, staying in a 2 bedroom hotel suite (with kitchen!), and eating out occasionally, for shy of $800.
Once jet lag was addressed, and in between puking, Nic and the kids managed to do a little shopping and visit a museum. I was there for an exhilerating week of work, during which I would write my Theological Foundations 1 exam, proctored by my manager during compete reviews, and managed to pull off almost all the required activities fairly succesfully. Nic and I were able to attend the annual Christmas party, while the kids were babysat, and had a really nice time with some west coast friends.
The kid’s traveled like pros: obedient in the airports, quiet on the planes, polite and charming to the various air-service employees we interacted with. They handled the jet lag and the flu fairly gracefully — although the first day there, as all 3 of my girls broke into tears (and some puking from one of them) in a grocery store, I was a little worried! We saw mountains (in the distance), explored the Redmond library, learned to get around without the GPS, and had a couple swims in the hotel pool.
We’re glad we were able to take them, and so grateful I have a job that made that easy. The kids fairly shook with excitement in their seats waiting for the plane to “blast off” and Abi was excited to visit the “airport where daddy lives.” Now we’re looking forward to the next trip… a long drive, but a much warmer location!
So I saw the surgeon last week. He says, the good news is my bones are healed. 6 months is what he expected for breaks as bad as I had, and we’re at 7 and the bones are looking good. He had a resident with him this visit, and they discussed at length my near brush with compartment syndrome. The bad news is that my big toe is dead. If I keep tripping over it, they can fuse it into basically a solid bone… but we’ll think about that later in life.
In another 6 months, he’ll entertain discussion about removing the hardware and scoping my knee to remove whatever is causing the discomfort there. Some days its pretty bad, others I’m OK. Randomly my knee will just decide to collapse and nearly drop me to the ground. That’s happening less frequently though.
I work out at the local gym 2-3 times a week, and my leg is starting to look more normal. I can walk up to 4.5km an hour at a 4.5% incline without holding on. I don’t use a cane any more.
We ran out of coverage for physio, so I’ve had to reduce my visits and their length. Nicole is able to do ankle mobilizations at home, but we owe a lot to my amazing physio therapist at Manual Concepts Physiotherapy. Jen is highly recommended! My range of motion is improving — on a good day, walking at a good speed, you might not know I was hit by a car earlier this year!
In fact, even on a bad day, I’m just off enough that people give me funny looks. They’re not sure if they should act like I’m handicapped, or ignore the disability altogether. I’m not sure either. Some days I think I can do whatever I want. Other days I stare jealously at people jogging or jumping or walking down stairs normally…
Ah well, one day at a time. Things keep improving, and I’m hopeful that they’ll keep doing so!
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