Amplified Thoughts

*Note - this story actually happened, although some points may have been made up for dramatic effect*

The plan was to eat it while in between work and our youth service at the church on Thursday night. So, upon arriving at the office on Thursday I put our pizza in the fridge downstairs for later consumption.

There was one other event happening at the church that afternoon, a memorial service in which there was to be a food and refreshments served afterward in the basement. The thought crossed my mind as I put my pizza in the fridge "hmmm they wouldn't think to use this uncooked pizza for the reception would they?" After concluding that at a reception, an uncooked goat cheese smoked salmon pizza would be highly out of place, I continued on with the rest of my day.

Meanwhile, an amazing dedicated crew of ladies were preparing food for the reception. Upon opening the fridge they noticed someone had put a strange food item at the bottom ... an uncooked pizza! They weren't really sure what to do with this, it seemed a little odd, however people have donated odd items for receptions in the past ... and there was no label saying that this was for anything but the reception - so ... they warmed up the oven ... cooked the pizza ... and put it out for everyone to enjoy.

As the afternoon moved along, my thoughts went to how we were going to enjoy our wonderful dinner. Hot and fresh right out of the oven. Just before I left to pick up my wife from work, I went down to pick up our supper ... only the pizza wasn't there were I left it. It was at the moment that I noticed my mother putting a slice of pizza into her mouth, then exclaiming how delicious it was!

My lesson - if you're going to leave yummy food in a fridge that is used for other purposes then your own ... label it well... or consider it gone!

Let me set the scene, it's the end days, the very end - and a man called the "man of lawlessness" fueled by Satan, has set himself up above every religion and god, including Jesus, as the one to be worshipped by the world.

2 Thessalonians 2:8

The story starts with the end of our bi-annual Pastors Conference, this year held in Langley BC. Des and I decided to take an extra day to shop, and so some walking in Vancouver. The plan - head to Stanley Park and walk the seawall (8.8kms). I fairly hefty walk, but one I knew would be perfect for the beautiful day that it was. So off we went, shopping a bit in Langley, driving to Surrey, and taking the SkyTrain downtown. My thought was that it should be easy to catch a bus from Canada Place to Stanley Park. However, finding that bus didn't go very well ... ahh well it's a beautiful day, and not a very long walk to the Park - so off we go. Once there, we even decide to cut through the park to make it a slightly shorter walk ... good plan. We reach the Lions Gate Bridge, my toes are a bit sore but it's a beautiful day for walking. We start going around the seawall - magnificent!!

After a good long while, my feet are complaining, and we start thinking that it would be nice to finish this walk and have a nice dinner somewhere. We reach a place called Third Beach, and foolishly decide to cut back through the park to arrive back where we started. So we walk, and walk, and walk, and walk (my toes are now really not feeling well) and arrive back near the Lions Gate Bridge, where we started walking the seawall (weird I thought we'd end up closer to downtown). At this time my feet are just about done, and we decide to take a break at a restaurant we found in the park. After a great meal we trek off, sorta certain which way we're going. We do eventually find our way out of the park, and discovered .... if we could have carried on the seawall, and not tried to cut through the park - it was only 3kms till we would have reached downtown!!!! We were quite close actually. Instead we walked an extra 5 or 6 kms going the way we did!! GROAN! Now, I blame this on two things:

1. I'm a guy, and I don't like to ask for directions.

2. There were no maps on the seawall, that we could see, and therefore we didn't realize how close we were to reaching the end of our walk.

To top it all off, once we were out of the park we had to walk/ hobble our way back to the Skytrain station ... and that is why I love maps! :)

The two golden rules of Sabbath from "The Rest of God":

1. Stop doing what you “ought”.

Sabbath is a time to cease, to stop. Stop from what? The bible says that we’re to stop from our work. That doesn’t mean just our jobs, it’s scope is bigger then that. It is stopping from those things that we feel we “need” to do, we ought to do. It’s removing those taskmasters spoken of in Deuteronomy. It’s a day when you take your list of things to do, and say ... it can wait. Now, this takes some intentionality. While Israel was in the wilderness, they had to collect double the food the day before the Sabbath. In the same way, you may need to work hard to accomplish necessary things before Sabbath in order to fully rest. However, our aim is not to be legalistic about it. If something comes up that needs doing, you can do it with a clear conscience. Please though, work hard at ceasing from those “oughts”.

Here’s the trick though, what one may call an “ought”, others find to be a joy. For example, it was a joy to me a few summers ago to come home and work on the farm during my holidays. Why? Because most of my time was spent in an office looking at a computer screen. To get out in the fields driving the tractor was wonderful for me! It wasn’t draining, it was life giving.

For some, the last thing you’d want to do on your Sabbath is to get in the car and drive. For others, it feels like the best thing you could possibly do is to drive. That’s why we need to keep ourselves from listing what one should or should not do on the Sabbath. And this leads us to our second golden rule

2. Embrace that which gives life.

We need to know not just what to avoid on the Sabbath, but also what to pursue. Mark Buchanan writes:
“When Jesus broke man-made Sabbath regulations, He always went this direction: He healed, He fed, He claimed the right to rescue creatures fallen into wells or to lead to wells creatures falling down with thirst. Jesus pursued those things that give life. Whatever had been stolen by sickness, by the devil, by sheer accident and mishap - these things He sought to take back and give back.... What better day than Sabbath to trounce Beelzebub, to trump death, to reverse sickness, to repair injury, to pamper ourselves?”

What makes you feel alive, what energizes you? Is it being outside, is it curling up with a good book to read? Is it time spent doing things with others, is it time spent alone just you and God? Sabbath is a day for those kinds of pursuits.

What should you do on a Sabbath?

You should rest.

You should worship.

You should feast.

You should play.

You should listen.

Resources:

I got a LOT of material from Mark Buchanan's book "The Rest of God".
The Rest of God

Plus this blog:farmStrong Blog
And this paper:Sabbath Keeping Essay

I am a slacker .... well certainly when it comes to blogging!!  Quick update: 

After watching one of Desi's friends perform his piano pieces at the Music School, we decided to go back to my place to hang for a while.  I wasn't entirely sure when I'd "pop" the question, but I had a feeling that I should take this opportunity.  So, I grabbed the collage, and had her close her eyes, then presented it to her.  She thought it was really sweet, and then I replied ... "there's one description that's missing...."  then I pulled out a little piece of paper that said "My wife"....... and that was that!!

Btw - Wedding date is November 8th, Location: TBA

We had crossed paths a few different times over the years, however our "chance" meeting in February was about to change our lives.  It was a Thursday night and my friend Jim and I were the only ones to show up for our young adults Bible Study at Talkin Donkey (a local Salv Army coffee shop).  There was a political event going on in the shop, so we decided to go to another coffee shop in town (The Bean Scene aka. The Bean) and do our study there.  It just so happened that Desiree was at The Bean that night, taking time to talk and get to know different customers and staff there.  Jim suggested that we sit with her, so we did ... and we talked... and talked ... and talked.   That's when I started to think "wow this girl is really easy to talk to, and I'm really enjoying our conversation".

Fast forward a bit and Desi had been coming to our bible study, we went on a few hikes together, and had some one on one coffee times.  On March 25th I decided I'd take a bold step.  I knew I had some deep feelings for Desi, and I was pretty sure she was feeling the same, so I texted her that I was going to be at The Bean for coffee that she could join me after she was done work if she wanted to.  I really didn't know if she'd come.  But she did.  She was leaving the next week for a 2 week trip to Israel, so we talked about that a lot.  Then I abruptly changed gears, and got to asking how she was feeling about "us", since we were spending a bunch of time together.  After sharing how I felt, I was thrilled to learn she felt the same!!!!