The Uninspired Post

Well, it's been a week and I have not posted anything new; I am feeling guilty and thus "the uninspired post". But please don't stop reading because of my own lack of inspiration. Who knows what this post might inspire within you.

Let's talk this through a little. Nothing has really happened in the last week to make me jump on my computer and begin typing one of my usually phenomenal posts. As I spoke with my parents last night on the phone I realized that this week has been pretty much uneventful for me. A lot of this, I think, stems from the fact that school starts two days from now (for the kids in a week tomorrow) and I have been trying to cram as much relaxation into my last week as possible. I guess I figured the best way to do this was to do nothing. And so I did nothing. The kids had swimming lessons, my wife had her mother, sister, and cousin over, and I sat all curled up with my laptop and tv remote and did nothing. Looking back on the week I feel a little bad about this, but, then again, not really. It has been a very relaxing week, and after being bored for a lot of it I am certainly ready to head back to school.

I love teaching and am looking forward to another year--my second. I have big plans to improve the things that could have been better and to help a least a couple students appreciate English Language Arts a little bit more. This year is going to be a little more work than last year because I am teaching more courses than last year. On the other hand I do have a good base for the courses I taught last year so it may all even out in the end. One big thing that is going to add to my work load is that Jennifer is working (teaching dance) 4 nights a week this year, whereas last year she wasn't teaching at all. The kids are also taking some dance lessons a few nights a week. In all it should be a really good year. (It seems odd to think that this is the beginning of a new year, rather than January first starting the year. I guess that's what happens when you are a house of teachers and students.)

I think that's it. I will try to keep posting regularly (that's why I waited until summer to begin a blog), but in the meantime: Have a good year!

The Dream Giver

At church yesterday the pastor referenced a book called The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. The book is written as a modern day parable of a man seeking to fulfill his God-given dream.

I have not read this book (but intent to give it a read when I get the money and time), but would love to hear from you if you have read it.

There seems to be some criticism on the internet of the book's ideas, mainly stemming from the term "dream" and how it can be misconstrued as living your own dream rather than the life that God has intended for you to live. This point was briefly brought up by the pastor and he made it clear that as far as his use during the sermon, the term "dream" was to mean the plan that God has for your life.

I thought this book sounded interesting, as was the sermon, and it stuck with me for a couple of reasons. First, the theme fits nicely with the theme of this blog: taking a risk in life because that is what life is about, rather than living in the safety of comfort and familiar (words brought up frequently in the book from what I can tell).

And second, it made me begin to reflect on what God may be wanting me to do with my life and whether or not I am listening to Him and if I will be willing to obey. Am I really where God wants me? How will I know what God wants from me for certain? Do I have the courage to leave the harbour if that is what God wants? If I am to be honest with myself I think I would have to say that I am not certain that the life I am living now is what God really wants for me. But I don't know for certain. My walk with God recently has not been what I know it should be which is not ideal for hearing His voice and certainly is not helpful when it comes to listening to His voice.

Where I am heading with this post is here:

1. If you have any comments about The Dream Giver or Bruce Wilkinson let me know.

2. If you want to share ideas about God's plan for your life and how I, or other readers can support you, then please share.

3. If you could pray for me and my walk with God that would be appreciated. I have been convicted recently to do better in this area and could use your prayers to help me stay motivated and avoid backsliding. I realize that my own prayer and Bible study will be essential in order to hear God's voice in my life and for me to want to listen to Him.

4. I posted this fairly personal post with the hopes that from time to time you will hold me accountable to item 3. I know many of my regular readers are Christians who will be more than happy to help me out with this. I have found that making goals and intentions known to others is important to succeed with them.


God Bless.


P.S.

The last evening before we left my parents house we were playing a game called "Quiddler". I played the word "AA" and was told my next post needs to include this word.

I have no good way to work the word into this post but here is what I have found out about the word.


AA [ah ah]: A type of lava having a rough, jagged surface. It is relatively slow moving in its molten state, advancing in the form of massive blocks with fissured and angular surfaces that ride on a viscous interior. The blocks range in size between the size of a football and the size of a house.

Further understanding of the word comes when compare to the word

Pahoehoe: A type of lava having a smooth, swirled surface. It is highly fluid and spreads out in shiny sheets.
: Basaltic lava having a smooth or billowy surface.

Olympics

The Olympic Opening Ceremonies began today and I found myself underwhelmed with mixed feelings. I say underwhelmed because the Games are rarely something that gets me as worked up as I feel I ought to be for an event of such magnitude. The topic of the Olympics always stirs up a mixture of emotions for me; I love the idea of the games, and I love opportunities for our great country to show its stuff, but I find the sports usually quite boring to sit through and the coverage and interviews often more so.

At this point I should mention that it's not Olympic sports that I find boring per se, but that I find it tedious to watch almost any sport on TV (baseball is my one exception (if it's the Blue Jays), but even then there are some days I just can't do it).

An example of what I mean is happening as I sit here at 10:40pm typing this post. Men's cycling is currently being televised and it is far from interesting. Some people find golf or tennis or yes even baseball boring but at least there are variances in these sports that can make it interesting. But biking?!? The announcer just said it's been a pretty good race so far, and I am wondering what makes a race good or bad. I will admit that some of the comments made are interesting, and the announcers do try to explain a lot of what is really going on. It is not my intent to sound snobbish, I do understand that what these athletes are doing is not easy, and there is more to it than what is seen by the "non-biking" viewer; but as a non-biking viewer I find it difficult to care.

CBC has already been doing a good job of breaking up the cycling coverage with other things that some may find interesting, and I can take a bit at a time. I do plan on watching the games and cheering for Canada as much as I can (both time wise and interest wise).

I really do love the idea of a true international competition. Baseball has a World Series, which is anything but a World series. The Olympics offer the opportunity for countries to put their best athletes forward to compete. It must be a totally awe-inspiring experience for those with the talent and drive to compete at this level. What a great reward for all their hard work. The Games also provide regular citizens the chance to celebrate their fellow country men and women, and their country. I like that, and like supporting Canada by watching our athletes.

One other thing that I wanted to mention was the fact that the host city is different every year. CBC does a great job of showing us the history and culture of the host city and country. I do like learning more about other parts of the world in a fun and interesting manner, especially since I have never been further east than Quebec and briefly through a couple northern United States. I would someday love to see more of the world, but deep down feel like that is unlikely to ever happen (not that it is necessarily unlikely, just that it feels that way to me). This will be one thing that I intend to push myself to do: To leave my comfort zone, make the plans that need to be made to get out of North America, and take the risks that are involved.