That's a wrap...

Lots of tears were shed this weekend (some of which were mine), but our time has now come to a close. Friday was my farewell (and my birthday, I might add) and I just want to say that my students and leadership team rock! They did a "wicked awesome" (some student terminology for you) job on the whole night.

I truly count it a privelage to have worked with them over the past 5 1/2 years. It really is sad to say goodbye, but we rest in the memories and knowing that we'll probably see them again. (Some of them sooner, rather than later, as they plan to invade our house one weekend in November.)

We're now technically on holiday (or "vacation", for my American readers) until the end of November. We get 4 days in the mountains for a retreat with the other pastoral staff (and spouses) which will be a great way to say goodbye to them.

I don't think that this has all sunk in for me. It might not fully hit me until the U-Haul pulls away from what has been our first home. We'll be "temporarily homeless" and we sometimes wonder when (or if) we'll have our own place again. I can't tell you exactly what our life will look like one month from now, nevermind 6 months.

This isn't normal...but we'll manage.

Boxes, boxes everywhere...

I had no idea I had collected this much junk in my office. Ok, so it's not all junk. I actually have some good books on my shelf...some of which I have actually read.

I also never figured it would be this much work to get things ready to leave. Besides packing books & shelf-toys in th boxes, I've got to change email accounts, change contact info at a bunch of places (many of which I'll actually forget to do), pass off all the website info for 2 websites...

Oh, and look...I just found some money...why on earth do I have American coins in my desk?!?!

On top of all that, my desk looks the same as it has for the past 5 1/2 years: a total mess! Maybe I should actually clean it before I leave. Hmmm...now there's a thought.

Tomorrow is our farewell. Our students & leaders are planning it, so it should be both hilarous and completely embarassing. I'm sure they'll mock me to no end.

And Sunday is our final day here. I'm wrapping things up by singing something for "Special Music" (apparently "Nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye" is not an "apropriate" selection for Sunday morning worship...go figure!) and then passing the torch to our volunteers. Something else might be in the works too, but I'll fill you in next week when I'm officially unemployed.

This will be a long day...

I have a birthday coming up, so a bunch of my family got together to buy me a new graphics card for my computer. This has been in the works for almost a year. I have a handful of games that are just sitting on my shelf collecting dust because my PC can't handle them.

That shall soon come to an end...I hope. Yesterday I picked up one card, only to get home and discover that I had bought one that would never be able to even fit in my computer. So then my wife returned it (ain't she the best) and get the one that will work.

And now I have to wait until the end of the day to get home, install it, and begin playing my games. It is going to be a long day...

I don't want to talk church...

I must say that the Habs are looking great this season. Definitely more of an underdog compared to teams like Ottawa, Detroit or Philly...but a team that can win when they need it.

Look at last Tuesday. After being down 2-0 early in the 1st against Boston (and playing horrible hockey I might add) they buckled down to fight back to tie it up and then went on to get the win.

Sure, we may not be sitting top of the division by playoffs, but I'm thinking they may go farther than most people imagine.

And just when you think you can write a team off...

Chelsea hasn't dropped any points at all this season, which is completely frustrating (but hey, I guess if you spend over $600 million on a team you should win a few games) yet somewhat fascinating. You're always wondering who might bring them back down to earth.

Apparently that job goes to Everton. And if lowly Everton can hold them, then certainly we can beat them!

And after Chelsea announced this week that they want to dominate football for the next 100 years, and that they plan on having the Premiership title wrapped up by Christmas, you had better believe that teams are going to be after them with a vengence.

That was gross...

Let me backtrack for a moment. When we arrived at our church 5 1/2 years ago one of the first events we held was a gross games night. It was a blast. So, we decided that we would try to go out with the same event--Gross Games II.

So, last night was our last official Friday night event with our students because next Friday our leaders and students are planning up a farewell. And it was a mess...whipped cream, chocolate sauce, marshmallows, honey, puffed wheat, jello, beans...and a few more surprises. And somehow I ended up wearing all of it when the entire group turned out me. Imagine that!

(Incidently, if you ever want to have a laugh, get all your students to place an egg on their head and then pull nylons on overtop to hold it in place. Then try to hit them with a pool noodle. That is perhaps one of the funniest things I have seen in quite a while!)

We ended things off with a challenge to accept Jesus' invitation "Come, and follow me". It doesn't matter how messy your life is, Jesus has called YOU! And it's time to drop what you're doing and follow Him. Sure, you may not know what's going to happen, it defintely won't be easy, but it will be an adventure.

The evening went even better than I could have expected. And now I have some more great memories as I prepare to say farewell.

Where am I...

Is it already the 18th?!?! Where is the month going? Or where did it go? Only 12 days left at the church before a much anticipated month off. As for what happens after that, only God knows. And I mean that quite literally because we don't have a clue.

We're officially homeless as of November 30th, although our in-laws have opened their door to us if we need it. We've also had a few more "doors" open in the past few weeks, but we'll just have to wait and see where that goes.

On a less important note: Habs win again!

On a frustrating note: Only a draw for the Red Devils...and an injury for Giggsy! Crap!

What a morning...

Ok, this is actually about yesterday morning, but I'm a little slow.

It was our Mission Trip Service where all our students talked about their experience this past summer on our trip to Tijuana. I'm so proud of them. I think they were more nervous about talking in church than they were about going to Mexico.

But they did awesome. We showed a few videos, taught everyone some spanish songs and then talked...and talked...and talked some more. We didn't get out until almost 12:45pm, and that's a service that starts at 11:00am. At one point I thought about trying to shorten up the morning, but then I figured that God probably wouldn't mind if we went late!

Mornings like that make it harder to say goodbye...at least to our students.

Oh yeah, Happy Turkey Day to my fellow Canucks!

Oh yeah...

Hockey's back! And my Habs won! Woohoo!!!

Beginning of the end...

What a great break it was to hang out in California with my wife. We spent a couple of days in Disneyland before heading off to Sacramento for NYWC. (By the way, thanks Katie for the lift to the hotel!) Met some people in person, met some new people, and just had an all around great time.

This convention (our 4th) was the weirdest one ever because this time we weren't thinking about our youth ministry back home. Instead, this ended up being a time for God to do some work on repairing my heart. It was very refreshing. I now feel like I'm ready for saying goodbye. Yeah, it still isn't going to be easy, but I feel better about where my heart is right now.

I also arrived back in the office to find out the board wants me to take all of November off...with pay! The only bad thing is that it moves our final farewell up even closer, but the time off...and the extra money...next month will be helpful.

I've got some other interesting developments, but I'll save those for another day. But I'm reminded through this all that God is in it all. I know, it's cliche...but it's also truth!