City Kidz

okay, so I have been a volunteer with City Kidz (CK) since last Sept, and I began my time on Carrey Gillard's bus , bus 82. I will miss the kids on this bus, but I've been transfered over to bus 72 which is the bus that picks up kids in the neighbourhood adjacent to the church that I work at as an evangelist and youth pastor. So, knowing the way God works, this is truly a blessing. Today , while waiting to register for the team meeting, this lady named Gaberial joins the line behind me and asks what bus I'm on, when i share its 72, well she's the new bus captain and again, in a God instance I've met my new Bus Captain. As we the day goes on , I found out she know's Carrey and after sharing for awhile, she asks if I will be her Co-Captain. Again , God is working to bring connections for our church and the community around us. I'm always amazed in the details he brings in his plans, as long as we are willing to listen he will direct us on a really cool journey.
2 weeks till CK starts back up, whoohoo!!!

My Appartment, my home, my life

Okay, its like been along while since i've posted, I appologize. So I live in Hamilton, Ont now, and I work for the Church of St Peter as their outreach/youth co-ordinator. Basically I help lead youth group and I create opportunities to do outreach with the church in the surrounding community.
I also network through a number of other parachurch programs and part of that is by volunteering time at some of them. The 2 major ones are City Kidz www.citykidz.ca and through an emergency food bank and clothing store www.thehamiltondreamcenter.org
Both are great ways to connect with the community, and are worth the time and effort put out to be there.
The video I'm loading describes my home, my appartment, and its warm and cozy , a nice place to come home to after along day.
Also , another benefit to being here is that I'm now really close to my cottage, it is only a couple of hours north of here and I'm hoping to get some quality time up there this summer. OPC is also not far away, and after Christmas I will be going up for a visit as well as taking my youth up to the camp during March Break.
Hope all are well, I miss people from down east , yet I know God's got me here doing some building for His Kingdom and that fills my heart.
Hope you enjoy the video!
technical problems uploading,

Hamilton

Okay, I haven't got my camera hooked up or even unpacked yet, and I'm still working on having internet so it might be abit before I can put up any pics, but i'm in Hamilton, I've got a place on Barnesdale and Somerset and I start moving in tomorrow. First I have a men's Breakfast at Joshua Center to go to and then begin with a new home.
Hamilton has changed alot over the last 20 years, not the same town I visited when I was a kid, I'm excited to see what God's doing here, what I've seen so far in street ministries and kids ministries in the city , it's looking to be awesome.

Who is Responsible?

The week before Labourday weekend, I was at a camp over on Deer Island, New Brunswick and I couldn't believe all the garbage that was washed up on the shore and floating out in the bay. It was the remains of a Salmon Farm that looks to have gone Belly up. The pictures above are not that farm, unfortunately I didn't have my Camera with me to take photo's. But I was shocked that no one has cleaned the site up, it has been there since the winter, and when I looked into it I found out that this isn't uncommon. I haven't any problem with Aquaculture but I do have a problem with the fact that no one seems to have responsibilities to clean up there crap. I used to work in the forest industry and there are now stiff fines if you leave anything at the sight after your done logging. So who's Responsible for cleaning up and why isn't the Government doing anything about it?

The Link above is to fisheries, and you can email the fisheries minister and voice your concerns about this.

The Garden: a place of growth and a place of peace

So the above pictures are from our garden at McKim House. Last fall Zerox came in and redid our garden beds and then in the fall, on what semi cool Saturday we the house went out and planted about 12 boxes of bulbs and wham, all these flowers bloomed in late May. It was great cause it was a labour of love, done in love, with the help of love, it was so a reminder of how good God is in our lives. I like gardening, its peaceful and it gets you out of the house, and with alot of nuturing and tenderness you can get results that show that the love works. Just like our house, McKim house and L'Arche for that matter are all about God's Love and with alot of sweat and tears you see results that bring more tears and an inner-joy.

I've started a tiny vegetable garden in our yard, and Pat has agreed to water it twice a week, so hopefully we will get eatens in the fall from it. Did I mention that we love to have people over to visit for a cup of java, a tea or a cool drink. We are thinking about doing a couple of community bbq's and open house, cause we want to get to know our outer community better.

Drop me a line and we will work out a time to come visit , maybe we can have a garden party, I know Debbie would love the chance to share tea and bisquits with you.

Spending quality time

Since coming to L'arche, I've really come to know what it means to enjoy moments of time when I can relax. For time is something you really give up at L'Arche, you put all your time into others lives so that they may experience life. Well you try to put all your time, really there are moments when you feel selfish and want to take time for yourself, and that's human. On the weekend, I took my 3 hours of personal time and went out with my friend Ryan to Irving Nature Park and went geo-caching, I've never done that before, it was interesting, Ryan almost stuck his hand down this hole where a porcupine was making its home, close encounter with the wild kind, but in the end we found this tupper wear container full of stuff and added a note about our adventure. It was a good outing, where I was able to focus on something other then work, and got to hang with Ryan, who shared it was good to get out of residence and school, so for both of us it was a blessing, Thanks God!!!

Also, yesterday , I took two of the core members down to the beach at Irving Np and that too was some good quality time, we spent a few minutes down by the water looking out across the bay, listening to the waves, skipping stones, and feeling the warmth of the sun on our faces. It will be good for McKim House when the weather warms up alittle, more outings and not feeling like hens couped up in a chicken house.

Basically alot of my free time is taken up at INP, especially by the beach where I sit and take in God's creation while either going for hikes, or reading the Word or another book of interest.

The common denominator in all this is time and really the beach. The beach and in saying so the water I find soothing, i'm able to let all of life's crap and stresses go, and just relax and listen to the ocean as it meets the shore. The time, well its moments of peace in which I'm learning to appreciate much more.

I will also be glad to have warmer weather, and chances to get out and enjoy it, I like winter, i like winter sports, its just that alot of that happens outside the city, and unfortunetly that kinda time I didn't get alot of so warm weather opens up more possibilities in the city.

In Memory of my Puppy Dog: Tasha

So , tonight I found out some sad news. I will start at the beginning, about a year after I moved to Sussex, I was asked by my friend Adam McComb if I wanted a dog. I said sure, and he gave me this little female puppy who I was told was a mix between a lab and a terrier. We named her Natasha after one of Adam's ex-girlfriends, I ended up calling her just Tasha. She was great at chasing Mice, and she loved the water, when she was young you could see her paws were webbed like a labs.

Tasha was with me when I lived on Grey Rd in Penobsquis, she was with me when I lost my licence for drinking and driving, I was more worried for her then about my being arrested (I knew what I did was stupid, and I was paying the price for that, but I didn't want to loose my puppy.) She lived with me in the sugar bush, then out to MillBrook rd, and then to Crawford Lake, where we spent many a days hiking in the woods, working in the woods, she would go everywhere with me. She has been to my cottage in Ontario, to both my sisters places and my brothers. When I sold my sugar camp and house , she moved to Adairs Lodge and Cabins with me, and when I went to Taylor College, she stayed with the Phinney's (where she touched alot of kids hearts, as she loved to play with kids and adults alike, especially fetch.) I know she was close to the Phinney's as well as to the Parson's , especially David , thanks for playing ball with her all those times.

When I went back to school and knew I was going into full time ministry, it was apparent that I wouldn't be able to keep tasha so she went and moved in with my sister Mary and their family where she has lived happily since 2003. I loved my puppy, and I will really miss her. She has had a good life though, since 1994 when i got her and she was 6 months old, till March 17, 2008.

14 good years where she has touched alot of hearts.

So I hope she is in a good place, I know alot of people would say a dog doesn't have a soul, but I think that God is way more knowledgeable then you or me, and Tasha was much more his then mine. That's all I'm going to say, that and she will always have a place in my heart.

I was thinking about Tasha last night as I cried myself to sleep: Yes, that's right I cried alot, I"m not ashamed to admit, that I loved my Dog as much as I love a family member, and I do love my family! Anyways, I was thinking about how she used to go down to the dock when no one would play ball with her. She would sit down by the end of the dock, chew on her tennis ball, and then with her nose, and sometimes her paw, she would push the ball off the dock and into the water. she then proceeded to watch it till it floated alittle distance away from the dock, and splash , she would jump in and retrieve it, and go back up to the dock and chew for awhile till she was ready to go back in and get the ball.

Tasha was a very smart Dog!