be.love.serve.

I watched a great TV show that premiered today. It was called ‘Breakthrough with Tony Robbins’. Most people know who Tony Robbins is. If you dont, he is like the inspirational guru Terrence Bundley in the movie Yes Man starring Jim Carrey. Tony Robbins is huge. He is an author and great communicator. He is helping people reach extraordinary lives. Tony is large, always smiling, and inspirational. In the show we are introduced to Frank & Kristen. We are told that they are a powerful love story. They love each other so much they would do almost anything to keep it together. That they could have easily been torn apart, but even in this low time, they are fighting for love.

Let me give you some context. Kristen & Frank had a destination wedding in Mexico. However, on their wedding day Dec 6th, 2008, during the reception, Frank broke his neck when he fell into the pool. This moment was suppose to be the best moment in their life; however, it became a nightmare. They dreamed of having a family, but now Frank cant even feel his wife. They became depressed and feel trapped to a caretaker/quadriplegic relationship. What happened to their future? What happened to their dreams?

I cant even imagine the pain of this tragedy. How can you be free and experience true joy after such pain? Tony Robbins offers 7 steps. I love these. Check them out.

1) Rewrite your story

2) Confront your real issues

3) Discover your inner strength

4) Redefine what is possible

5) Exceed your expectations

6) Change your belief system

7) Own your breakthrough

Those alone are so awesome. But then throughout the show I noticed and learned alot. It was inspirational to see his hands on compassion. Tony was a great listener and inspired Frank & Kristen to listen to one another. He helped them share their dreams and encouraged them to experience freedom. He obviously did alot to help; but the true restoration was realized and owned by Frank & Kristen because they experienced it instead of just hearing it. One of the great realizations by Frank was in step 3 when he experienced how he provides for Kristen. He provided real emotional support and true intimacy by being a comforter to Kristen. And Kristen experienced a chance to lean on her husband and his strength. However, that was only the beginning. The two of them experienced some amazing challenges throughout the process. From skydiving, to playing murderball, to taking time to grieve and enjoy life. Even Frank, a quadriplegic, driving a truck through the desert, was a great moment that destroyed false truths. It was amazing to see meaningful freedom being discovered by experience.

One of the great things I took from this show was how practical and meaningful the process was. I hope churches will grow in this. I hope Jesus followers will continue to learn how to live and not talk the belief system. I hope we will spend our time and resources on meaningful change instead of talk. I hope we will experience true life, and help connect others with joy and freedom. I hope we will stop trying to do the big thing and realize the small and practical, changes lives. Like Frank in the show, I have been slipping into the lie about dwelling in the past, or worrying about the future. I want to jump into my new life. Enjoying and facing the challenges of life will make me present. My present reality has some risk involved, but it is full of joy and freedom. Thank you God for who you are and the life you have blessed me with. Help me love you and love others. Im going to trust You.

Im so pumped! My cousin Bradley is coming to visit this weekend. He is the closest thing to a little brother I have had. Anyone who doesn’t know, I am an only child. However, I do have a 2nd mom. Its really hard for me to imagine there was a time before Keith & Lynda Taylor. I dont remember it, but I have heard the story a ton of times. My mom & I were new to church. We had been a few times. But one morning, after the church service, my mom was wondering where I had wandered off. Eventually, she noticed I was playing an epic game of tag on the outside front steps of the church with some kids and ‘an older guy’. That older guy… I now call him my uncle Keith. He is like a dad to me. Honestly, one of the most caring, hard working, and wise men in this world (he seriously knows everything!). A real man of integrity. I remember so many great memories of Blue Jay games, vacations, late night chats, Christmas’, Baseball roadtrips, and Keith even took me to father/son camp at Kakeka.

And Keith is the great dad of Bradley! I have known Bradley since he was 1.3 pounds. A miracle child. He is truly special. I remember so many great memories with Bradley too. We really bonded when I got to take care of him for a month, as a toddler. I remember watching Space Jam 4 times in a row because I just couldnt say no… And teaching him to stick his tongue out as he dunked on his fisher price basketball net. And ever since, we have been attached at the hip. If we are in the same house, you can just call one of our names and you will find the other. We are usually playing video games or something like Risk. However, we seem to entertain ourselves no matter what we are doing. This weekend he is coming down to spend the weekend! Im so excited.

Recently I took a road trip across Canada. Well, really only from Southwestern Ontario to Prince Edward Island. Im too cheap (or poor, depends how you look at it) to pay for the gas to get to the west coast. Our first main city we stayed at was Ottawa. Beautiful City. Honestly, if I wasn’t so ignorant in french, I might even want to live there. While we were there, hanging with the Queen of England, we thought we would pay a visit to the Civilization Museum. One of the missions we had, for our journey, was to see more of Canada. Seems appropriate to spend time investing in understanding the culture our country has, and where we are coming from.  While visiting, we learned, took many photos, enjoying a morning of exploration. One of my personal favourite finds was a tombstone. I believe it was found in New Foundland dating back to 1676. I could be wrong, but I think it is the oldest engraved tombstone found in Canada. The language on  the front and back of the stone was in Basque language. I need to give a shout out to my friend James Riewald who successfully said Basque is a language with a history in the Spain region. I looked it up to find the region spanned from northeastern Spain to southwestern France. The alphabet used in Basque is Latin. Like the words from the great movie Good Will Hunting, “my friend is wickedly smart!”

Back to what made it my favourite. There was a translation of what the stone said. Take a look and see if you can figure it out…

Im guessing you cant figure it all out because its written on both sides. Let me give you the translation.

“HERE LIES

DEAD…

MAY 1, 1676

I.H.S.

JOHN

DE SALE

CESANA

SON (or heir)

OF THE HOUSE

OF SWEETEST ODOUR”

How awesome is that?! Sweetest Odour?! Now I did find out that  “sweetest odour” refers to ‘the best loved son of the house’. But that is a hilarious way of saying things. Language is amazing sometimes. With the recent funeral I attended in mind, I had been thinking a lot about the end. How to be remembered and what my story will be. But then this photo reminds me to also enjoy the humour in life. An example: even though it was sad to say goodbye to a friend at a funeral, I cant help but keep laughing to myself about how he managed to get a conservative megachurch to play the entire song of Freebird, by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I noticed some heads a nodding, itching to rock out! So any fun ideas for your funeral? Any witty words you want on your tombstone?! I might plagerize John De Sale Cesana and snag sweetest odour, or atleast say I smelled like Old Spice. I would love to have a live band rock out at my funeral, like the movie Elizabethtown, and have the sprinklers go off! Humour is so human. I dont know about you, but I need it.

You are able to deliver from the fire of affliction
It’s the declaration of my Lord
You’re not an image of gold
You’re the God of old
You have made us
Come and save us
We are Yours
But even if You don’t,

Burn us up! Burn us up! Burn us up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire
We give up! We give up! We give up!
Oh king won’t you burn us in the furnace of
Your desire!
Won’t you throw us in the fire!

The above Lyric is from the song, Burn Us Up, one of the many great songs by Shane & Shane. I got thinking about this song because of the news about ‘Touchdown Jesus’. I am sure I stole that name from someone smarter then I. Anyone who has cruised south on I-75 has seen the mammoth Jesus sculpture. I have seen it on route to Atlanta, Cincy, Florida, or even Corbin Kentucky (home to KFC). I always get giddy when I see it… a Giant Jesus showin’ us ‘its good!’

However, I heard some news via Nathan Colquhoun’s twitter, pointing me to the ‘tragic’ news that this piece of ‘art’ has been destroyed. You can read & watch it burn here: THE STAR. If you are too lazy to check the link… I will share the most shocking detail I discovered… this sculpture cost a quarter of a million dollars! Thats 6 figures! WOW! I don’t even know where to start with that….

Maybe this shows my scatter brain, but I think the song, this burning image of God, and a few blogs I interacted with today all connect. Today I was challenged and encouraged by a couple great blogs. A couple favourite blogs of mine are: Adam McLane & Mark Oestreicher. Adam posted a blog titled: Churches don’t reach people. Mark put up a blog about extended adolescence in churches. I found myself involved in some great dialog about how the church has an opportunity to orient its mission outward, giving all people (including youth & young adults) the challenge and responsibility to lead by serving others. At the end of the day, maybe we need to burn it up and start making some radical changes. What would you (or maybe are trying to) change about your church?

A few months ago I borrowed a book from James Shelley, titled The Kite Runner. I was really looking forward to reading the book, but like most books, I made excuses to not read it. After about a week, my amazing wife, seeing the oppurtunity, asked if she could read it. I saw this as an oppurtunity to be lazy and yet still learn about the book. She wiped through it. Thinking back now, I remember a few times where she was really upset while reading it. I finally understand. Tanya & I borrowed the video version of the story from the London library. The story rocked me.

I am not going to say much about the story, because you need to experience it first hand. PLEASE – go read it, or if your like me – see the movie. Tanya said the movie looked exactly like what she imagined while reading the book. However, I might advise reading the book, because you can digest the story in more small bites. I found myself emotionally zapped by the end. I broke down and wepted as the credits began. It is a story of love. But in a very broken world. It haunts me to think how much pain my brothers and sisters in Afghan have been dealing with. As I posted last night about reality, the story of The Kite Runner rings with ugly and beautiful truth. I need to keep my eyes fixed to reality. I need to keep my soul tuned to truth. And I need to keep my heart full of love and compassion for justice. Thank you for reminding me Kite Runner, I am done with not remembering. I will close with a few quotes that make me think and feel.

“Children aren’t coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.”

“There is only one sin. and that is theft… when you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth.”

“You bring me shame.”

“There is a way to be good again…”

“What do you see? …The rest of my life”

“You’ve always been a tourist here. You just didn’t know it.”

“For you, a thousand times over”