Count Your Blessings: Part One

Life is full of blessings. Some blessings are in the form of people, some are things, some are experiences. Unfortunately, we often take these blessings for granted. We can so easily forget how blessed we are; our blessings, right in front of us, escape our view. This happens to me sometimes too. So to remind myself, and to share them with you (whoever you are!), I thought I'd list some of them here. Therefore, without any further adieu, let me begin to count my blessings.

This, folks, is my wife, Alisha. Here she is doing something she loves doing: reading. And here she is doing it at a place she loves: her parents' camp. Now, I can't even begin to imagine how big a blessing she has been to me. Whether through her intelligence, her sense of humour, her sense of adventure, or her faith she has made me more me. I think one of the most important things our husbands and wives do for us is to draw us more out of ourselves, help us to become more of who are meant by God to be. Alisha has definitely done this for me. She has been a source of strength and encouragement more times than I can count. And she has also challenged my comfort zones on plenty of occasions, bringing me on all kinds of adventures that I would have hardly embarked upon on my own. Of course, sometimes that means getting lost in the woods!

Aha. My little girl, Ella. My, my, it's hard to believe she'll turn four this October. She's smart, funny, creative, imaginative, has a great laugh, loves to tease, enjoys dancing, listens to all kinds of music from worship music to classical to U2 and Jars of Clay, and loves singing and will do so even when out in the yard by herself. While being a parent is not always easy, I can't imagine having it any easier than we do with Ella. She brings joy into our lives, and surprises us constantly with her ability to express herself. Her personality is a curious one. She absorbs knowledge and information at a breackneck pace. She is also sensitive and feels things deeply. And she's a lot of fun to be around! She reminds me of the importance of play.

This is Sharon. She's my mother-in-law. And she's been a huge blessing too. While I tease her mercilessly sometimes, it's not because any of those really mean mother-in-law jokes apply to her. We actually get along incredibly well. We talk a lot. We talk about books, music, and, quite often, have long, deep conversations about life, ministry, and faith. We share similar interests so much so that she sometimes says I'm more like her than either of her kids! In addition to all this, she's been and continues to be a tremendous support to me in my ministry in countless ways. Plus, she and my father-in-law live relatively close and so can babysit quite frequently!

Speaking of my father-in-law, this is him. This is Harold. He's the strong, silent, sometimes grumpy type. He's a man of the woods, of working and playing outdoors. He's a man of integrity, someone trustworthy, someone reliable. He's also a tease. I think that's where Ella gets it! He knows a lot more about cars than I do, so he helps us out when our car needs looking at. In a lot of ways, he's become the father I never had.

These are just some of the blessings in my life and, surprise, surprise, they're people! Isn't that the way? There are other important people, too, and I will get to them. But it's getting late now and I need to get to bed. So this has become part one of this post because I need the blessing of a comfortable bed and a good night's sleep.

Truth in Fiction

Both at home and in my office at the church, there are walls lined with books. And in both places some books belong to me and some belong to my wife. In fact, during our actual wedding ceremony we included as a part of the vows, "All my worldly goods to thee I endow." Then and now, there is something ironic about that vow. We didn't have an abundance of worldly goods then, and the same is true now. We joked at the time that this part of our vows referred specifically to our respective book collections! So, appropriately, my books are also hers and vice-versa.

But of course we have different interests when it comes to books. Alisha prefers fiction, particularly historical fiction, and books that relate to whatever she's working on. For instance, she does some home-schooling with our daughter, and so we've seen many books on this topic borrowed from the library clutter endtables and dining room tables and various other nooks and crannies.

As far as I'm concerned, however, my reading tends toward the academic or semi-academic. To take one example, I just picked up Darrell Bock's book, The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities. And I likely would have done so whether I were presently a pastor or not. It's not simply work reading. I also spent a considerable amount of time re-reading some recent books by Eugene Peterson over my vacation: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places and The Jesus Way. I didn't finish them by any stretch, but enjoyed immensely what I did read.

But one thing that rarely makes my reading list is fiction. For some reason fiction and I have never clicked. My interest has never been stoked by novels. I think in part the reason is that my experiences with literature in high school did nothing to endear the classics to me. If anything, it instilled in me an aversion to the likes of Shakespeare and anything that we had to study in class. We were taught (or they tried to teach us) to analyse rather than enjoy and savour. But nitpicking and picking apart just seemed, to me at least, to suck the life out of books that I might have otherwise appreciated.

And rarely does my wife hassle me to read anything. Except she recently read a quadrilogy of books by Karen Hancock called The Legends of the Guardian-King. So she kept insisting (more or less) that I ought to read these books. One thing in her favour this time is that they were fantasy novels. One of the rare instances where I picked up novels includes reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

So when on vacation, I decided to give them a whirl. I have to say that I was very surprised and impressed. Of course, I still have to finish book four. Full judgement is something I reserve until the very end. They're touted as being an allegorical fantasy series, and there are definite biblical parallels to both characters and events, but they would be readable and enjoyable even without that extra layer to the narrative. On a non-allegorical level, there is a faith perspective in these books; that is, there is a spiritual world-view that parallels Christianity. Tersius is the Christ-figure. Eidon is God. Terstmeets are church services. If you're looking for some good fantasy fiction, I heartily recommend Hancock's books.

One of the things that struck me as I was reading these books was how the author wove into the story faith elements that could resonate deeply with people of faith in the real world, whether it was about the mystery of God and what it means to trust him even when we don't fully understand his ways or how we can sometimes struggle with our calling and vocation, with our own weaknesses, despite the identity we know God has given us. She also shows through her narrative the way people struggle even in coming to faith and how individuals can resist the pull of God on their heart. She shows how God can allow us to experience trials and how trials can make it more difficult for people to believe in God. We also see characters who are Christians ("Terstans") and how they try and live lives of witness to those around them who still refuse to believe.

What I also appreciated about her writing style is that she doesn't bludgeon anyone over the head with religious belief -- there is never a moment when you feel manipulated as a reader. Rather, she allows the story to play out more naturally. These books are not sermons in narrative form. Her writing is artful, thoughtful, and rich with visual detail and description that pulls you not only into the characters but into a vivid, imaginative world that betrays the rich influence of other writers like Tolkien (Middle-Earth) and Lewis (Narnia). Of course, I doubt she's unique among modern fantasy writers in her ability to do this, but since I read next to no fiction it is new to me.

I also enjoyed how some of her themes and ideas resonated with me personally -- that is, I found myself, at times, in her story. And this, of course, is the whole point of story. This is the power of story. And so it's no wonder that much of our Bible is cast in story form. The Scriptures are the story of God with us. I said that her ability is obviously not unique. All good storytellers do this. So when I told my wife and mother-in-law about my experience of reading these novels, they weren't surprised but were glad that I enjoyed them. If you're already a fan of classic writers like Tolkien and Lewis, no doubt you'd enjoy these books too.

Vacation: Finale

Our vacation is over. Actually, it was over two days ago. On our last day, Sunday, I must confess it felt strange to be packing for home. I was genuinely sorry, at first, to have reached the end. I'm not completely sure why, because I've always experienced a readiness to return to regular life after vacation. Usually, I'm anxious to get back to normal routine. This year, though, I think I ended up finding it so relaxing that I didn't want it to end! But end it has.

We spent our vacation at my in-laws camp, which along with a number of others, is located on a small lake. My wife, daughter, and I spent nearly two weeks playing games, canoing, BBQing, reading, sitting in the sun and, on occasion, visiting neighbours from other camps. And for a good chunk of our vacation, we were joined by my mother-in-law. On fewer occasions, we were joined by my father-in-law.

So now we're home. The fall is already underway. In less than a month my daughter turns 4. Thanksgiving follows on its heels. A new season of church ministry is up and going. And Christmas, as they say, is just around the corner. Arriving back, it's easy for me to all of a sudden feel overwhelmed with all there is to do. Having been on vacation makes one feel as though you've been out of the loop. There is stuff to catch up on. In light of all this, I hope and pray that I can carry the spirit of rest from vacation into the rest of life.