Category Archives: Community

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In general “we” is a good term to use. I like to think that my general thought patterns happen in a “we” context. I value community, I believe it’s core to how God has created us to live and breathe…but I’ve created a problem, and it is not of noble origins.

Apparently, there are many times where I say “we” when I should be saying “me”. I’ve heard this from my wife today which reminded me of when I heard it from a friend a while back Apparently I say things like “yeah we really suck at that” when in reality I’m no good and I’m just including that person with me. Other times I say “we’ve really got to get better about picking up after ourseves (you can insert any chore here)” what has happened with my wife is that me saying that ends up communicating to her that SHE needs to start picking up after herself. Because I wouldn’t include her in the mix unless I was thinking that she was needing to do it. I guess that most people speak about themselves, “I need to start taking out the trash every day” or “I’m really terrible at this game!” I’d like to think that I do this because of my intense love of community…but the sad reality is that probably deep down it makes me feel better to be miserable with someone else. Not too noble eh?

I guess we’ll all need to work on this.

The Neighborhood Coffee Spot

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I’m learning to live on mission. That is, to live in a way where I am open and available to stop the “important” stuff I’m doing in order to spend time with people.

So…Marcell’s Latte House is my office. I go there three or four mornings a week to study, meet with people, work on things, etc. But while there I’m doing my best to interupt peoples conversations, ask people questions, and care more about others than my “holy church work”. Today that translated into helping them unload a trailer full of kitchen equipment. And when I say kitchen equipment I’m talking industrial ovens, coolers, display cases, etc. I’m sweaty. I haven’t gotten any of my “important” church work done, but I’m getting to know more people and I’m showing that I care more about them than about my “work”.

Jess and I are helping to coordinate a veggetable swap that will happen during the summer here. Anyone from our neighborhood will be invited to bring their extra garden produce to swap, share, and trade.

I might get a part time job here in the mornings too.

How can you start puting yourself in a place (physical location) where you’ll have the opportunity to get “interupted’ by people? Think about it.

On a “side note” I’d like to say that I’ve enjoyed all the “” in this “blog”.

Rumors of Celestial Explosions Gone Away

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I’ve heard the rumors, I know its been talked about, so today I went straight to the horses mouse (I meant to type “mouth” but I think I will enjoy the mistake).

Rumor: there will be no Fort Vancouver firework display this year

I went to my informant at Coldstone Creamery and found out that apparently it’s gotten to expensive and the Fort Vancouver people were requiring Coldstone, who oddly enough are the firework providers for much of Vancouver, to up their investment by one or two hundred thousand bucks! So because of that…no fireworks this year.

That’s rigth folks, the coldstone dude, the employee who will sing a stupid song if you tip him a quarter has confirmed the sad truth. I guess this year for the 4th of July everyone will have to get wasted in their own back yard. Curse you economy!

Birthright and Catholicism

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If you are not familiar with Birthright, you need to be. I have strong feelings about abortion. I think it is terribly destructive to kill unborn children, I think it destroys the people who do it and I think it is unhealthy for a culture to accept it. But I also have strong feelings about people who oppose abortion at every point but do very little to support women who are in the scary position of a unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. It’s that whole grace and mercy thing right?
So the great thing about Birthright is that they know what they are not. They are not a group that fights politically to stop abortion. They are not a group that pickets abortion clinics.They are not a group that scares women away from abortions. It’s just not what they do. They support women, they walk alongside women, and they work within the context of relationship.

So I’m on the board of Vancouvers Birthright chapter and last night we had a board training meeting. As expected it was enjoyable and fun. What was amusing to me, however, was that I was the loan protestant there. Every other board member is an active practising Catholic. It’s amusing to me because there were times in my life where I was being taught that Catholics were the Antichrist spoken of in the Bible. I remember specific lessons from teachers showing how the false teaching from the Catholic church has brought condemnation to millions. Don’t get me wrong, I do not agree with much of their theology, nor do I try to defend some of the things they’ve done in the past. But here I was working beside all these “God forsaken” Catholics praying for the Spirit of God to send women into Birthright so that they can find love and support.

It was amusing to me at least.

Grandfather Ryan

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I forgot that at one point I was the grandfather of a fledgling community known as the blogmunity (I realize that this is a common used word these days). Before I started blogging I knew a few bloggers. Tabitha. Ike. And maybe a few more. But the moment I began blogging I brought along my padawan Arwen. Shortly thereafter my wife, two sisters, and a number of other friends began blogging. At one point even my arch nemesis Raj Van Allen was an active part of the blogmunity.

With all that said, about a month ago I did the unthinkable and left blogger for my new friend wordpress. It was a neccesary but sad move, a move that I knew would one day happen. But what surprised me was the fact that my young padawan Arwen quickly followed me to the wordpress airwaves. It’s good to see that daddy still has some influence in his childrens lives. Enjoy wordpress R-1.