I am once again floored at Douglas Coupland’s knack for being ahead of his time. Not only did he coin the term “generation x” and “Mcjob” (which Seth Godin uses frequently), but he coins a number of terms that describe me and my life to a “T.”

Many of you know I am sucker for books on culture (and more of the popular kind), and this one is a winner. Now to be honest there are moments in Douglas Coupland fashion where his characters go off on one of their “stories” (read tangents) that make me wonder, but overall this book is fun story that makes me go uh-huh, right, totally, over and over again. He knows this culture and mine (especially if you have read jpod). And it has that dark humour as well.

I am not going to give it a CP ranking, because it is probably more fun to read that informational, but I do recommend Coupland in general if you are interested in understanding Canadian (and in this case American) culture.

Douglas, another fine job!

P1010005.JPG

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Today the family set out for Edinburgh. This is a pic of Anna and I on the classic tour bus. I loved this city. Small and beautiful, old and brilliant.

Most of my Edinburgh pictures are not uploading from this Wifi so sorry for the shortage of pics. Plus Anna took my camera in the afternoon and I wasn’t able to show you some of the amazing sites.

I spent some of my free time away from family looking into PHd programs at the University of Edinburgh (just in case) and New College where the program takes place is in a Castle. Just awesome.

Self Shot: National Wallace Monument

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Today we ventured all over Scotland. After visiting family cemeteries in a couple different towns, we visited Anna’s grandfathers old church in Culross, and then had lunch in Dunfermline.

After lunch a few people went back to the house and we decided to go to visit the farm where Anna’s grandfather grew up and then we went to visit the highly acclaimed National Wallace Monument, dedicated to our well known Mel Gibson movie Bravehart and our hero William Wallace in Stirling.

Looking forward to some new adventures in Edinburgh tomorrow.

Self Shot: Kyle, Anna and Roxanne at Windy-Yett Farm

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Today was more of a travel day then anything else. Anna and I got up late and basically packed and flew to Scotland. After landing at Prestwick airport we picked up a car and I drove (on the other side of the road i’ll have you) to Glasgow airport to pick up Ella. I’ll tell you it was quite an experience.

After picking up Ella we drove to our final destination for the night (and for the next 3 nights) the Windy-Yett Farm in Fallkirk near Strilingshire.

Here is a picture of Anna and I with our niece Roxanne.

Self Shot: Saint-Martin River

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Well it was a fun, yet sad day in Paris as Anna and I enjoyed our last day here. We enjoyed a fun morning at an Antique Market, and then made our way to Pere Lachaise Cemetery (where a few popular people have been buried). After some time there we walked for what seemed like forever and ended up at Parc des Buttes Chaumont where I played on some free wifi courteous of the Paris government. We then walked by Saint-Martin River (which I am sure is related to me in some way) and had a great meal downtown.

Tomorrow we catch a 2:30pm flight to Glasgow where we pick up Ella and begin a new adventure. More to come as I have to pick up a car and drive on the wrong side of the road…AH!

I have managed to down another Richard Rohr book, and Simplicity is another winner. He again builds upon many of the thoughts from “everything belongs” and challenges me over and over to get myself out of the way so that God can work through me. There are so many ways that we as Westerners have built up our own “kingdoms” so as to get in the way of what God is doing. What I really loved is how those “kingdoms” manifest themselves in not only our personal goals and ego, but also in the systems we have created. When we finally move ourselves out of the way we will see the corruption in our own lives and in the systems we work through every day.

As a church planter I give this book a 4/5, so consider it a must read, but you need to be in a good place…a quiet contemplative place to read it and really grasp what he is trying to say, because if you don’t you can let his powerful words slip by without causing any change in you. The main thing that this book did to me is open my eyes to see. I am not sure what i will see yet, but i know it will involve some action on my part. Those thoughts to come.

And yes to those who want those levels of maturity that Rohr has put together and presented in the Bahamas, I found them again and will post them sometime in May.

Self Shot: Before going up the Eiffel Tower

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Well today was awesome.

After sleeping until noon (i know we are in Paris and we are sleeping in) we got up and Anna went fabric shopping, while I read and had a “cafe long” at a coffee shop near the Sacre Coeur.

We then went into the heart of the city and Anna went to Kookai and did a little shopping. After that we tried to rent some roller blades so we could participate in the rollerblade run in Paris on Friday nights, but we were unable to track any rentals, so instead we traveled over to the Eiffel Tower and took on the amazing view that was breath taking on such a clear and warm night.

We then settled in for dinner with the locals (beginning at 10:30pm) and hung out with a number of Parisians until 2am.

Such a fun day. Only one more full day until we fly back up to Glasgow.

Hall of Mirrors

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Today we ventured to Versailles to take in the Chateau and its grounds. It took us about an hour to venture out here, and it was worth the trip. The place was huge and quite extravagant. For those of you wondering, this is the place where the French revolution began as the poor of Versailles finally had enough of the Royalty building their kingdom on their backs. It is the home of Louis the 14th and Marie-Antoinette who had her head cut off by the revolutionaries at the beginning of the revolt.

Musee National du Moyen Age

Originally uploaded by urbanplanter

Anna and I decided to try a couple museums today. This picture is of us before we entered the Medieval Museum, which wasn’t bad, but we really enjoyed the Louvre, which we went to after this. We stayed there for over 6 hours!

We bought the headsets and traveled throughout the museum seeing a lot of French art, and Italian (including the Mona Lisa), and even a few sculptures from 100+ BC, including Venus de Milo.

It was a great day!

I’m not sure if it’s being in Paris or whatever, but this book seemed to be written to me at the right time. Let me read you a quote that may or may not affect you, but really challenged me and my direction in life.

“…But the second level of calling, which may, and I pray will, come to some of you, is the calling to be all this for the church. It is the call, in other words, to full-time Christian ministry at whatever level, including that of ordination. Ordination isn’t the be-all and end -all of Christian ministry; but the church desperately needs ordained clergy, needs them now as much as ever, and I would be surprised if out of the readers of a book like this God were not calling someone, perhaps several, to give their life in imitation of Paul in imitation of Christ: to hold on to Christ with one hand and hold on to the church with the other, to share and feel the agony of the church’s follies and failings, and to know the power of Christ to restore and heal the church and set her feet back on the right path. That vocation not to be lightly dismissed. (pg. 100)”

Now this is a loaded quote, and depending on how or of you know me, there are many ways this quote could be interpreted. Therefore let me just say that I know that my life is involved in purposes of the church, and the way that looks is still part of my journey, but ever since I started the open house and now my new job I feel that calling more than ever. I am not convinced it has to look a certain way, but I know that it will be a huge part of my life. Now to say something about this book in particular, I would like to rate it a 4.5/5 for church planting purposes. It will renew your vision of God and the role of the church in the world, which I desperately need taught to me over and over again. NT does an amazing job of connecting the worship of God and the role of the people of God, revealing how God uses us to His ends. He remembers us and that turns into action for us and by us. He also brings unity into the mix, and addresses unity in light of justification by faith; justification is a thus a doctrine leading to unity in Christ as all of us are justified equally and therefore should participate in the life of Christ together. Wright says:

“…the doctrine which declares that all who believe in the Messiah Jesus belong at the same table, no matter what their ethnic, geographical, gender or class background.”

Lastly, in this short review of a powerful book, Wright paints a picture of the church (in the last chapter particularly building upon the whole book) that is the church I want to Pastor. It is a church focused on the Beatitudes, and his teaching of the beatitudes changes the face of the church. Wright says:

“The church is here to be the Voice to the world; the Voice that does not claim great things for itself, but simply urges the world to get ready for the God who comes in the power of judgment and love. We are to live, and we are to speak in such a way as to do for our generation, more or less, what John did for his: to demonstrate and announce that there is a different way of being human, the way of love, the way of God, and so to bring to the world the news (good news to the weary, bad news for the bullies) that the creator of the world is also the comforter of the world…”

This is a powerful statement and gets me excited for life…even as a Pastor.