Paul And Jenny

Had lunch with James, Paul and Jenny today. It was great to say P and J, since I rarely see them. They moved to Texas almost a year ago. Mind you, even before they moved south, I rarely saw them.

Here's a pic of us at my favourite resto in Vancouver: Al-Watan. Khalid, the cook, joined us for the pose.

Glenayre Reunion @ Anton's

Tonight we went for an Italian feast at Anton's. So yummmmmmy.....

From left to right: Cub, Judy, Fred, Peter, Tyson, and Gonnie:
















I'm thankful to be able to keep in touch with the Glenayre gang. I miss them. They're great friends.

Pesebre

I got a nativity set for Christmas. It's quite big, but I like it. It's past the advent season, and indeed, christmas has come and gone, but I'll put it up nonetheless and keep it up until the day of Epiphany on January 6th. Here are a few pics I took of the scene, after I put it up in my apartment.

Daytime:















Nightime:















Next year I'll put it up on the first day of Advent.

Christmas With Family

This Christmas was like last Christmas: good. Even with Ted/Karin and family's escapade to Asuncion, the rest of us here in the wetlands had a festive time with family. I stayed the night at my parents' place. Here's how I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve:
* 6:30pm - went to my parents' church for a children's program. It was a good program, a typical North American "musical performance" that had a lot of props and lights and even video streaming, but not too much of a theological backbone. The kids, however, were super excited and enthused about the program, and that was great to see.
* 8pm - dinner at mom and dad's. Heinz, Melanie and family came also. Great dinner, great conversation. Thank you Lord for the blessing of family.
* 11:30pm - midnight mass at Westminster Abbey in Mission. Beautiful, as last year. The sermon was on John 1:1: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...

Christmas Day:
* 9:30am - I went to a church service at St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Abbotsford. It's a small church, but it was a great service. The officiating pastor had such a gentle yet genuine demeanour it was inspiring. I could tell he really loved the Lord and the people he was shepherding. I'm more and more convinced that the perfect church is one that has under 100 parishioners. That's the magic number, because once you have more than 100, it gets big and impersonal.
* 1pm - lunch with the whole family-gang again. Same as last night: good people, good conversation, and good food.
* 6pm - played Rook with dad, Heinz, Terence, and Tanis.

My only complaint is that we still exchange too many presents. No matter how much family members agree that "this year we'll only buy 1 present per person", the resolve is weak and without integrity. The result: everyone gets 5 presents, and those people who only buy 1 present (as agreed to previously) look like stingy idiots.

I arrived back at home in Vancouver around 11pm.

Ambiguity Leads To Alienation

I'm not happy about how things are with Clau. Over the past few months we've become more alienated from each other, even though we see each other more often than ever. Maybe that's the problem, but regardless, I don't get it.

Yesterday at Karla's party she gave me a Christmas present "in passing" .. it seemed more a duty than a real gift. I don't think she meant to hurt me but I think her actions do represent a painful alienation from me.

Months of ambiguity - are we together? are we friends? together in private, friends in public? - are finally catching up to us.

Karla's Birthday, Goodbye

Karla's time in Vancouver is sadly coming to an end. I love her genuine spirit. She'll certainly be missed around here. It was her birthday today, so she made it a 2-for-1 celebration: birthday and goodbye. She goes home to Mexico for Christmas now, then she comes back mid-January for 3 days before returning to Australia.

I wonder how Clau's going to deal with Karla's departure. Those two are so close.....

Trouble

Clau and I are in real trouble, and it breaks my heart.

Sure Enough...

... I got an email today from Carla. She knows that something's up with Clau and I, so she's asked me not to contact her. She needs space for healing.

I totally understand this. I've been in a similar situation before with Sharon. Actually, this happened to me numerous times, now that I think of it.

My guess is that our friendship's ruined.

The Carla Issue

I think Carla found out that Clau and I are considering getting together. This could spell trouble to our friendship.

U-20 World Cup Game

Today a few of us from the soccerinos went to see two U-20 futbol games:

2pm: Jordan vs. Zambia (1-1)
5pm: Uruguay vs. España (2-2)

The games were amazing, especially the second game. Uruguay played with heart, Spain with mind. Interesting that the score ended up a tie.

Here are a few pics from the soccerinos:
















Lunch at Earl's before the game (from left to right): Vero, Cub, Mario, Benja, Karla, Clau, Carla, and Connie.





















Karla and Clau.
















Halftime: Vero, Clau (sleeping), Karla, Carla, and Mario

Confession

Today Clau and I kissed. It just happened, while we're at my place, in the most unexpected of places too. We were standing in the hallway on our way out to Karla's for dinner.

Needless to say, we arrived at Karla's rather late.

Scarcely Saved

I preached today, on I Peter 4:12-19. My points were as follows:

God is in control, even if sometimes it doesn't seem like it, because of all the suffering and evil around us. The writers of the New Testament certainly expressed this truth, as did the martyrs of the early church. Suffering for our faith serves the following three purposes:

1- it tests our faith;
2- it tells the world of our allegiance to Jesus; and
3- it trains us for the final day.

Conclusion (v19): "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to our faithful creator."

I'm thankful, because the preaching went well, and I had some close friends there to support me.

Here are some pics from this morning:
















Clau, Carla, Rachelle.
















Cub.
















Bryan, Carla, Cub, and Rachelle.
















Bryan, Rachelle, Cub, Carla, and Clau.

Clau Returned From Bolivia

I was so happy to see her today when I picked her up from the airport. I definitely have feelings for her, because I missed her like CRAZY while she was gone.

I even called her long distance to Bolivia while she was away, and talked to her for quite some time.

I'm glad she's back!

Rules Of Spiritual Discernment

It sounds strange to list "rules" for "discernment." Rules for games or driving yes, but discernment? Apparently...

Just over a week ago I was in a course on spiritual discernment, and I was amazed - pleasantly, I admit - that discernment is not just a "willy-nilly" free-for-all, based on warm and fuzzy subjective feelings. Ignatius of Loyola of the 16th century, in particular, put together the following helpful rules in spiritual discernment:

1- During times of decision making, we all experience periods of consolation and desolation. Consolation = a sense of wellness, peace, joy, shalom. Desolation = disturbance of the soul, such as anger, fear, or discouragement.

2- Never make a decision while in a place of desolation, because in those times our soul is turned away from God and towards the "fragmentation of the world." The Holy Spirit is not the spirit of fear and despair, but rather, of love and power (I. Tim 1:7). Therefore, we wait until we're in a place of consolation or return to the last place of consolation, before making a decision. Only then are our hearts aligned with God.

3- Test all consolation, because not all consolation is of God. The devil is, after all, a wolf in sheep's clothing, and likes to trick us into making bad decisions (I. Peter 5:8). The devil is the source of all false consolation.

How do we test consolation? According to Saint Ignatius, we need to exercise the principle of "holy indifference": freedom from inordinate attachments, indifference to "anything other than the holiness and glory of God." In other words, we need to test the motives behind our consolation. The following "inordinate desires" may bring consolation, but not true consolation of God:

* wealth
* pleasure
* honour
* recognition
* and power

Whenever our motives are driven by these factors, there's a very good chance that we are driven not by a desire of the kingdom of God, but of the world.

In the coming months I'll be pondering these rules of discernment, especially as they relate to my vocational calling. I have a feeling there's something to be learned here.

Decision-Time

Three options I'm considering:

* Missionary work: in Asia
Benefits:
- away from North American life
- simplicity of life
- learning different language, culture
- possibility of teaching theology
Drawbacks:
- away from family

* Social Justice work: in East-Vancouver
Benefits:
- close to family
- long-term investment (personally, financially) in a specific community
Drawbacks:
- do I go back to get a regular job?
- will the church support me?

* Ordination: in the Anglican Church
Benefits:
- love of the church
- learn the art of preaching
- academics
Drawbacks:
- being a shepherd of a flock is hard work (ask the prophets, Jesus: sheep are quite dumb)
- away from family
- the Anglican Church of Canada is pretty much apostate => how to stay faithful within it?

Dark Times

Dark times loom ahead.

Well maybe I'm overstating it by saying "dark times", but definitely "difficult times." I'm confused and desperately lack direction.

Seminary was supposed to clear that up for me, but perhaps that was rather naive thinking on my part.

Spiritual Discernment Class

Today was the first day of class for the Spiritual Discernment course, an intensive course that will go on daily for the next two weeks. It's one of the last courses I'm scheduled to take at Regent, and as such, the timing is right. There is essentially one question that I hope to answer as a result of this course:

What is my vocational call?

In other words, after I graduate with a Master in Divinity, what next?

Lord have mercy on me as I discern which steps are next.

Bjork

Tonight Bjork (excuse the lack of umlauts on the 'o' .. I can't copy them from an open office doc to this Firefox webrowser) played at Deer Lake in Burnaby. It was an awesome concert. I think she's the greatest.

But she didn't play her best song: Human Behaviour. :(

She did play some other kick-a$$ songs though, including Army of Me, Pagan Poetry, Unison, All is full of Love, and Bachlorette.

She also played Pluto which I hate on the cd, but was quite good live.

I was also struck by the humanist message she preaches in her songs. My friend Rob thinks she sees herself as the philosophical uebermensch (again, excuse the lack of umlauts) that Hegel spoke of a couple centuries ago, the idea that humanity is working itself towards some kind of utopia. Hmmmmm .. I think he's onto something.

Too bad she's not.

But, I still love her music.

Systematic B Final Exam

Today was my final exam for Systematic B Theology: "Christology, Soteriology, and Anthropology". I wrote the final exam at Regent mid-afternoon. I had 2 hours to write 4 essays: essentially, 30 minutes per essay.

I chose to write on the following questions:
1- What does it mean to be made in God's image?
2- Are human being free agents or slaves to sin?
3- Discuss the nature of Jesus Christ.
4- What are the ways Jesus' work on the cross have been described?

I think I did ok on the exam.

Incidentally, Connie, a good friend of mine, accepted my exam once I was finished. I handed it in 7 minutes late, and she marked it (down) on the exam. If I get any marks deducted because of going 7 minutes over the time-limit, I'm gonna have to have a word with her. It seems that my method of selecting friends is not very good and may need some revamping.....

Advising Committee

Today was the first time I participated in the advisory committee meeting for "Out of the Cold" (OOC), an initiative by GCBC. I think it's a great initiative (that's been running for 10+ years!) that brings Christians from throughout the city together every Thursday night in order to cook and serve a meal to the homeless of Vancouver. I've volunteered for OOC for over a year now, and have been repeatedly blessed and challenged by my experiences there.

I'm blessed by the resilience and strength of the poor, and challenged to see Jesus in their faces.

I look forward to learn from some of the leaders there. Furthermore, I'd like to take what I learn there and implement some of their ideals in our church. Our church needs to have a higher social conscience, and so I think we have lots to learn from OOC and GCBC.