brilliant stuff. I saw Wallis in Toronto last year and he blew my mind. This will be an important book.

via

Sitting in a Tim Hortons’s, delaying the beginning of my work day, in order to pray and seek God about some big decisions to come about and I am doing the most faithless thing.

I am hoping that these nice older ladies sitting beside me will ask me what I am doing, say that they love God too and offer me thousands of dollars and resources in order to fix my problem.

I have to say, I personally laughed at that last line too. And I hope you did, cause this is not uncommon for any of us who claim to have faith in God. We believe that God has his best lined up for us and if we really had faith we wouldn’t have to go through any suffering to get it. There are always nice old ladies with lots of money ready to give you money for your good work you are doing for Jesus right!?!?

However I am in a dilemma. And I know that I can’t rely on some chance situation to fix it all. I have to believe that God wants to work with the person He created and the creation around Him, to see that life take care of itself. People working together under God to mend relationships in the world…that is powerful.

I know what is right. And what is right is not always popular. And if it’s unpopular you might lose friends, standing, pride…numbers.

My life needs to be about justice…and my church as well.

kitchen_living room

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter.

Here is a look at our kitchen/living room of our basement pre-drywall.

what a transformation.

I can’t wait to see what it looks like at the end of the week.

As some of you know I have slowly become a fan of Douglas Coupland. Maybe its my search for an identity in Vancouver or how Coupland makes everything I see around me feel real and not some temporary state. Either way I have enjoyed his dark humour, and way of telling a story.

I have already read in my coupland past, Eleanor Rigby, jpod, and Hey Nostradamus all of which i enjoyed immensely. So a nice Christmas present led me to Life After God.

Firstly i will say, Coupland was always ahead of his time. Reading this book that was printed in 1994 about a few people living life in postmodern Vancouver made me feel like i was in 2008. He is so in tune with culture shifts that you realize how far ahead of the times he was with this book. I can’t wait to read his acclaimed Generation X, which i have on slot after this.

However, I will say that Life After God didn’t excite me in the same way as the others I have read. It was a little random for me, and connecting the stories in the book was really hard to do, and I left wondering if that was even the point. But even so, I was entertained throughout the text, and I will ask more questions of it over time.

Anyway, Coupland is a great Canadian author and I hope to include a few more reviews during this years seemingly impossible run to 48 books.

cheers

With my computer creeping on 3 years and myself starting a new job that will need a dependable computer I just might be in line for this little beauty…see below.

As rumored, Apple announced a new line of portable computers during Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at MacWorld San Fransisco today, the MacBook Air. The new line is a complement to the existing MacBook and MacBook Pro lines.

Features of the new portable include being “the world’s thinnest notebook,” at 0.16″ to 0.76″ – thinner than the the thinnest part of a Sony TZ series laptop. Screen size is an LED backlit 13.3″ widescreen with a magnetic latch. The MacBook Air keyboard is MacBook-like, but with an ambient light sensor. The new machines feature a multi-touch trackpad, allowing the user to double-tap and move. Rotate a photo by pivoting your index finger around your thumb, as well as pinch & zoom.

Additionally there’s a 45 Watt MagSafe power adapter, a Micro-DVI out as well as Audio Out, 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR. There’s a 1.8″ hard drive for storage – either 80GB standard, or a 64GB SSD as an option. Intel shrunk the size of the Core 2 Duo chip by 60% to fit in the new machine.

Battery life is approximately 5 hours. No optical drive is on the MacBook Air, but a SuperDrive accessory is available for $99. There’s also new software being released that allows the portable to “borrow” a Mac or PC’s optical drive. All models feature 2GB of memory standard.

The case is fully aluminum (good for recycling), the first fully mercury and lead free display, circuit boards are BFR free, and retail packaging are 56% less volume than a MacBook.

The new MacBook Air starts at $1799 is available for pre-order today, and is expected to be shipping in two weeks.

thanks Mac Rumours

link

landed a new job today.

it is going to work perfectly with church planting.

i’m stoked.

now to chill for the rest of the day after speaking at 2nd Sunday.

Let’s start the new year off right by getting the open house back together for some eats, discussion and reflection on 2007 and what is to come in 2008.

Today (Sunday): 5pm: Wise Hall (map)

I will be speaking on the role Solomon’s Porch played in the early church, and together we will discuss some visions we have for the future of toh.

Bring your friends and let us know if you are up for helping out.

I have finished book #1 for my new years resolution of 4 a month or 48 this year.

the dip is a great book about getting through the low points of a job, a business, school and a lot of other activities. Seth Godin does a great job in this short book, of outlining when you might be in a dip in your life and whether to quit or to persevere.

Personally this connected with my state as the leader of the open house. In times of inactivity i find myself wanting out, but what Seth helped me do was ask the question whether the dip would lead to new victory’s or just a dead end. I can only see the open house being a victory, not a dead end and so I need to persevere and invite people to help me along the way.

If you are a church planter and are in a tough place and are not sure whether to continue, this book will help you ask the right questions and help you determine whether your should keep going or quit. And the best part is Seth Godin affirms the need to quit at times, which i think is incredibly important.