In between trying to provide updates on India trips and just settling into being married to the most wonderful wife in the world... I realized that I have not blogged about the new job I officially began on July 1st. In fact, it really is much more than a job... its a special privilege and pleasure to be able to serve the LORD in this (new) way and receive a salary for doing so.
As of July 1, I began serving as Christian Education Co-ordinator for Prairie Christian Academy. The role entails a variety of different aspects - overseeing the chapel program(s), developing the Christian service, missions, and leadership development aspects of PCA, and serving as a resource person for the teachers in integrating our shared Christian faith in to the classroom, whether in science, math, english, etc.
Prairie Christian Academy was formerly the K-12 program of PBI. In 2004, PCA became a separate entity (apart from PBI) and is an "alternate" school in the Golden Hills School District within the province of Alberta. It is overseen by the society board consisting of parents of children in the school. The board and the staff are a fantastic group of people to work with and I am sooooo blessed to be able to serve the Lord, His people, and the next generation of Christian leaders in this way.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Faith and "Desperate Housewives"?
I finished reading Shawnthea Moore's book regarding faith in the television show "Desperate Housewives." Take a peak at my review at the Amazon.ca website.
India Trip (part 4)
Thursday and Friday (June 7 & 8) were a couple more days of meeting more Hebron friends. Friday night we had supper at Tom & Valsa’s home. Saturday (June 9) was “graduation day” or as they call it at Hebron (and other British-system schools), the Leavers Ceremony. As one might expect at a school operating on a British education system, it was a very formal service and it was also quite God-honoring. After the ceremony, the majority of the staff and teachers, along with the leavers and their parents attended the banquet. Sarah and I went over to Selborne, mostly to “hang out” with the other couple on-duty for the evening (for those girls who were not at the banquet). Sarah also began preparations for the next day’s cooking spree. Rachel got back around 10:00 pm – apparently quite an early ending compared to most years – and so we visited for a little while before heading back to Farley.
Sunday (June 10) morning I had the privilege of bringing the morning message at St Stephen’s Church and again, the Lord seemed to used it to challenge and encourage people (which is really what matters!). The one rather humorous part of the morning and sermon was the pouring rain just as I began speaking – and the message was on Jonah! – and then a few loud thunder crashes throughout my talking, one well-timed one just when I went to emphasize a sentence that everyone had a good laugh at! From St Stephens we headed over to Selborne where Sarah and Rachel cooked up a storm in preparation for the official “Selborne Staff Party” (for us!) that evening as well as the rest of the staff coming over for dessert. They cooked up three soups, Sarah’s fluffy buns (like Pillsbury rolls but much better!), a couple good Indian dishes, and then four dessert options. It was another great chance to meet people, visit, and of course, the staff chipped in and spoiled us with a money gift that we used to go purchase some genuine Indian gifts later in the week! Oh yeah, and then at 8:15 pm we went into one of the Selborne lounge’s where Dez had set up the projection unit and we showed the staff and a group of Standard 9 girls our wedding pictures. There’s nothing quite like viewing wedding pictures with a group of 14-15 year old girls!!! Its so sweet, so sappy, and every once in a while I threw in one of my cheesy/romantic comments… and they loved it! (The only small down side of the day was that Sarah tripped coming out of church and scratched her left foot fairly badly. It is healing now but its taken a while.)
More to come…
Sunday (June 10) morning I had the privilege of bringing the morning message at St Stephen’s Church and again, the Lord seemed to used it to challenge and encourage people (which is really what matters!). The one rather humorous part of the morning and sermon was the pouring rain just as I began speaking – and the message was on Jonah! – and then a few loud thunder crashes throughout my talking, one well-timed one just when I went to emphasize a sentence that everyone had a good laugh at! From St Stephens we headed over to Selborne where Sarah and Rachel cooked up a storm in preparation for the official “Selborne Staff Party” (for us!) that evening as well as the rest of the staff coming over for dessert. They cooked up three soups, Sarah’s fluffy buns (like Pillsbury rolls but much better!), a couple good Indian dishes, and then four dessert options. It was another great chance to meet people, visit, and of course, the staff chipped in and spoiled us with a money gift that we used to go purchase some genuine Indian gifts later in the week! Oh yeah, and then at 8:15 pm we went into one of the Selborne lounge’s where Dez had set up the projection unit and we showed the staff and a group of Standard 9 girls our wedding pictures. There’s nothing quite like viewing wedding pictures with a group of 14-15 year old girls!!! Its so sweet, so sappy, and every once in a while I threw in one of my cheesy/romantic comments… and they loved it! (The only small down side of the day was that Sarah tripped coming out of church and scratched her left foot fairly badly. It is healing now but its taken a while.)
More to come…
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
India Trip (part 3)
The primary purpose of our trip was to visit Hebron International School in Ooty, the place where Sarah did her internship (1998-99) and served as a dorm parent, religious studies and ESL teacher from 2000-2004. We traveled from Farley to the school by auto(rickshaw) Wednesday afternoon, stopping at the new “Modern Foods” store to get a Coke (for me!) and say hi to Merely, the owner who remembered Sarah and was glad to see her again! Even before we entered the staff room at Hebron, the warm welcomes, greetings, and hugs began. In fact, the security gate man recognized Sarah and just waved us through without checking that we had any badges/passes! I was introduced to a number of the staff that Sarah had served with (and some new ones) and they were, of course, all glad to see her again!
A group of girls were in PhysEd class as we arrived and word “leaked” that Miss Hunt was here! However, Miss Rachel Carter would not let them come from their sweaty (field) hockey playing in the rain into the staff room to greet Miss Hunt and insisted that they stay on the bus, go back to Selborne (the girls dorm) and shower and then they would see Miss Hunt there in a while. Rachel, was/is one of Sarah’s closest friends from their time at Hebron, as they served as dorm-parents together for one group of girls during Sarah’s final two years at Hebron. We headed over to Selborne with Rachel a little while later. Even before we got to the door of Selborne, the girls starting running over, screaming “Miss Hunt, Miss Hunt, it so great to see you again” and throwing their arms around her! It was precious and beautiful to watch. (After being away two years, one could understand if these teenage girls had “moved on” and made connections to new dorm parents and new teachers… and they probably have… but Miss Hunt had made a lasting impression!)
After the emotion of seeing the various girls welcome Miss Hunt with such joy and affection, we then went to the Ds’ home for a potluck supper. During Sarah’s four years at Hebron, she was part of a care group that met each Wednesday night at the Ds and so this was another significant time to meet Sarah’s friends (even though some of the members of the group were different people from when Sarah met with the group). After a very tasty meal and good visit, it was off to Selborne for the year end all-dorm fellowship. This meant that all the young women who lived in Selborne, ranging from Std 6 to Std 13, would meet together for the last time. The sign on the door as we walked in was most “interesting” (to say the least):
TOMORROW
All-dorm Fellowship
WHEN? Wednesday at 8:15 pm
WHERE? Selborne Common Room
WHY?
*sing-a-long
*say good-bye to leavers
*welcome back Miss Hunt and
*meet her husband
So… about 80+ teenage girls from multiple countries of the southeast Asia (as well as other parts of the world) are gathered in one room and I can certainly understand another reason why Sarah loved this place – you really can impact the world for future generations in a dramatic way. In fact, as they begin to sing some choruses – “God is so Good” and “Guiding Light” – I find myself getting incredibly emotional as I consider all that God has brought Sarah from, and through, and now back to, with me. And as you probably know if you’ve read my previous postings, I’m not necessarily afraid to show emotion – tears of joy or sorrow or even anger. However, at this particular time, I feel I need to slightly composed as I am supposed to give the “testimony” or devotion to this group of teenager girls. (And they all know Miss Hunt and probably expect her husband to be an articulate, intelligent, brilliant speaker; after all he’s supposedly got a PhD! They probably don’t expect him to blubber like a baby when he gets up to speak!). Fortunately, I remember the #1 rule for speaking to youth – energy! Be energetic and enthusiastic – even if you have to fake the energy initially. So… Sarah gets me a drink of water and I get up to speak and… by God’s grace (of course) it goes incredibly well! I probably talked too long… but they didn’t seem to mind. I talked a little bit about how God brought Sarah and I together at the end of my talk and that generally goes over well with teenage gals, so that probably helped keep the interest. Afterwards, various girls kindly came up and told me that the talk was just what they needed to hear and that they really appreciated me speaking. So… praise the LORD that He used His Word to speak. We had a snack afterwards and sat and talked with various ones and then with some of the staff colleagues afterwards.
Although the rest of the trip was excellent, the first day at Hebron – Wednesday June 6 was really the highlight of the whole trip for me. We went so that I could see this part of Sarah’s life and that day encapsulated the key elements of it – the school, the staff, the students, the friendships with individuals within those groups, and the fact that Christ was at the centre of it all!
Oh yeah – one last thing: I knew it beforehand but I didn’t “click in” on it until after we got back to Farley that night. The place where the all-dorm fellowship took place is simply called the Common Room. It was in this room on May 5, 1949 that Sarah’s grandparents (Mom Hunt’s parents), Reinhard & Helen Friebel were married. Is God really that into “sentimental”?
PS Sorry it took soooo long to update this page!
A group of girls were in PhysEd class as we arrived and word “leaked” that Miss Hunt was here! However, Miss Rachel Carter would not let them come from their sweaty (field) hockey playing in the rain into the staff room to greet Miss Hunt and insisted that they stay on the bus, go back to Selborne (the girls dorm) and shower and then they would see Miss Hunt there in a while. Rachel, was/is one of Sarah’s closest friends from their time at Hebron, as they served as dorm-parents together for one group of girls during Sarah’s final two years at Hebron. We headed over to Selborne with Rachel a little while later. Even before we got to the door of Selborne, the girls starting running over, screaming “Miss Hunt, Miss Hunt, it so great to see you again” and throwing their arms around her! It was precious and beautiful to watch. (After being away two years, one could understand if these teenage girls had “moved on” and made connections to new dorm parents and new teachers… and they probably have… but Miss Hunt had made a lasting impression!)
After the emotion of seeing the various girls welcome Miss Hunt with such joy and affection, we then went to the Ds’ home for a potluck supper. During Sarah’s four years at Hebron, she was part of a care group that met each Wednesday night at the Ds and so this was another significant time to meet Sarah’s friends (even though some of the members of the group were different people from when Sarah met with the group). After a very tasty meal and good visit, it was off to Selborne for the year end all-dorm fellowship. This meant that all the young women who lived in Selborne, ranging from Std 6 to Std 13, would meet together for the last time. The sign on the door as we walked in was most “interesting” (to say the least):
TOMORROW
All-dorm Fellowship
WHEN? Wednesday at 8:15 pm
WHERE? Selborne Common Room
WHY?
*sing-a-long
*say good-bye to leavers
*welcome back Miss Hunt and
*meet her husband
So… about 80+ teenage girls from multiple countries of the southeast Asia (as well as other parts of the world) are gathered in one room and I can certainly understand another reason why Sarah loved this place – you really can impact the world for future generations in a dramatic way. In fact, as they begin to sing some choruses – “God is so Good” and “Guiding Light” – I find myself getting incredibly emotional as I consider all that God has brought Sarah from, and through, and now back to, with me. And as you probably know if you’ve read my previous postings, I’m not necessarily afraid to show emotion – tears of joy or sorrow or even anger. However, at this particular time, I feel I need to slightly composed as I am supposed to give the “testimony” or devotion to this group of teenager girls. (And they all know Miss Hunt and probably expect her husband to be an articulate, intelligent, brilliant speaker; after all he’s supposedly got a PhD! They probably don’t expect him to blubber like a baby when he gets up to speak!). Fortunately, I remember the #1 rule for speaking to youth – energy! Be energetic and enthusiastic – even if you have to fake the energy initially. So… Sarah gets me a drink of water and I get up to speak and… by God’s grace (of course) it goes incredibly well! I probably talked too long… but they didn’t seem to mind. I talked a little bit about how God brought Sarah and I together at the end of my talk and that generally goes over well with teenage gals, so that probably helped keep the interest. Afterwards, various girls kindly came up and told me that the talk was just what they needed to hear and that they really appreciated me speaking. So… praise the LORD that He used His Word to speak. We had a snack afterwards and sat and talked with various ones and then with some of the staff colleagues afterwards.
Although the rest of the trip was excellent, the first day at Hebron – Wednesday June 6 was really the highlight of the whole trip for me. We went so that I could see this part of Sarah’s life and that day encapsulated the key elements of it – the school, the staff, the students, the friendships with individuals within those groups, and the fact that Christ was at the centre of it all!
Oh yeah – one last thing: I knew it beforehand but I didn’t “click in” on it until after we got back to Farley that night. The place where the all-dorm fellowship took place is simply called the Common Room. It was in this room on May 5, 1949 that Sarah’s grandparents (Mom Hunt’s parents), Reinhard & Helen Friebel were married. Is God really that into “sentimental”?
PS Sorry it took soooo long to update this page!
Leadership Lessons from San Juan
Sarah and I had supper with our friends Tom & Leah on Monday night. Afterwards, Tom introduced us to a new game, San Juan. In this game, you have to build, produce, trade, etc using various supplies. Of course there are “speciality” cards – in this game, beautiful purple cards – that help with special bonus features for the game… but are also more costly to build and have limited immediate benefit, esp in terms of production, trade, replenishing of stock, etc. The end of the game comes when one person has built a dozen places. I was the player who “ended” the game as I was the first one to build twelve sites. However, in the end I had the fewest points of all four of us. You see, Tom, Leah & Sarah had all built fewer production sites and thus had not built as many places as my dozen, but they had built more speciality sites that at the end of the game gave them more victory points. So even though I was “productive” and got the most sites built the fastest, I was not even close to the winner. Yes, the leadership lessons are just so abundantly obvious... 1) Building Fast has its dangers. Often in the face of immediate pressures – meeting deadlines or quotas, financial targets to meet or else – leaders push themselves and other to build too much too fast. (I’ve suggested that the NHL lockout/strike of 2005 can be significantly attributed to the fact that the NHL did this in their expansion!). While its great to hit targets, have impressive looking “improvement” numbers, and show consistent signs of growth – that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are winning. In fact, it probably means you are putting up lots of glitz and glamour… and there may not be much left when the sizzle stops.
2) Build Strategically. My dear wife, Sarah, kept getting the purple/specialty cards at the beginning of the game. And while she wanted to use them, she had no means to “pay” for these sites because she could not get any production sites built. Yes, these purple/speciality cards served her well at the end of the game, but it took a while before she was able to get enough production to use these well. In fact, she had to wait too long – and it was her first time playing too! Tom (though I don’t believe he had played this specific game before) has played other games like this much more than the rest of us and knew the value of having some production sites early, but strategically building a “specialty” site, sometimes even waiting a turn and not building even when he had the resources, so that next time his “speciality” site would build some immediate gain and even more long-term (end of the game) benefits. Just as one cannot go 1000 miles per hour through life, a person in leadership cannot run their business/service perpetually at high speed – even in this high-speed, interconnected world. There has got to be some times of waiting, letting the current resources settle, even have some slower production time, in order for the long-term benefits to truly be reaped.
2) Build Strategically. My dear wife, Sarah, kept getting the purple/specialty cards at the beginning of the game. And while she wanted to use them, she had no means to “pay” for these sites because she could not get any production sites built. Yes, these purple/speciality cards served her well at the end of the game, but it took a while before she was able to get enough production to use these well. In fact, she had to wait too long – and it was her first time playing too! Tom (though I don’t believe he had played this specific game before) has played other games like this much more than the rest of us and knew the value of having some production sites early, but strategically building a “specialty” site, sometimes even waiting a turn and not building even when he had the resources, so that next time his “speciality” site would build some immediate gain and even more long-term (end of the game) benefits. Just as one cannot go 1000 miles per hour through life, a person in leadership cannot run their business/service perpetually at high speed – even in this high-speed, interconnected world. There has got to be some times of waiting, letting the current resources settle, even have some slower production time, in order for the long-term benefits to truly be reaped.
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