Tolerance: Part 2

The last place that I lost my keys was in a snowy parkinglot near Gravity Hill in Abbotsford, BC. The parkinglot, which was actually more icy then snowy, was at the base of a small snowy hill near the end of a mountain plateau with hundreds of rows of small green trees. These, in all of their natural glory, were about to become firewood, woodchips, and memories. Sadly, this was to be the fate of the u-cut holiday tree.

If you live in a condo, were ever termed as a metrosexual some years ago, have a closet full of shoes, enjoy poetry without rap music, enjoy rap music, think that a trip to the country involves two bus fares, or are an over-sensitive vegetarian then you will no doubt have never encountered a real holiday tree.

The holiday trees that you are used to come in a box, are stored in a larger box, and are far more environmentally harmful then cutting down the real thing. Plus they smell like coat hangers which, unless you have some weird holiday fetish, shouldn't get you in the mood at all.

But still, it is a holiday tree. A fake, yes, but nonetheless real.

Tolerance: Part 1.

Some years ago I wrote a paper on the topic of tolerance for a professor of philosophy with a couple of intents: a. to entertain him, b. to directly challenge him, and c. to finish as quickly as possible so I could go snowboarding. I succeeded on all three fronts, received a near perfect score, enjoyed some witty email banter back and forth, and was credited with introducing a new word to the discipline of philosophy.

That word was 'neo-tolerance.'

Now, normally I wouldn't brag about some academic accomplishment because really, when it comes right down to it, I haven't really had any academic accomplishment to speak of. I'm still over ten classes away from actually finishing Bible school, I quit swimming lessons, loathed piano lessons, and skipped out on my last hour of snowboard-instructor school to go shred the pow. However, I do think that it is very important that you know about the word 'neo-tolerance' and its inventor for the simple reason that over the last few weeks I have grown a beard. Yes, a beard.

Never trust a man with a beard.

At least this has been the motto swirling around in the back of my head for many years. And so, in a rather weak attempt to validate myself to you, I must tell you that, in fact, it was D.A. Carson who suggested the word 'neo-tolerance' and not a pressed for time snowboarder. This confession, I believe, should alleviate any mis-trust you may be harbouring as I grow my beard, eat granolla, and live in a van.

I do, however, completely understand if this is intolerable.

Young Adults Camp

Hello again.
Blogging has certainly become a thing of the past hasn't it? If you're still blogging - what the heck are you doing? Just kidding. Really, I'm kidding.

Anyhow, Candace and I are now back in the great frozen nation of Canada and, though we are not freezing, we are being drowned and depressed by the rain and gloomy skies. The one perk of the constant rain is that all of the climbing is wet and unclimbable which, while normally being a bad thing, has freed up some time to do some sermon writing. If you are somewhere in southwestern BC, twenty-something, and have a higher then average pain tolerance I should recommend that you register and attend the Nanoose Bay Young Adults Camp June 29 - July 1. The high pain tolerance most likely has to do with the fact that I am speaking and may have some allusion to camp food.* At any rate, it should be a fun few days as young adults from around the region gather together to worship Jesus, study the Bible, and created some shared memories.

If you want to get to the camp the directions are easy: register, get three friends to register so your car is full, stop at the gas station, fuel up, get a bag of Doritos, drive, share some food and laughter, make a wrong turn and a mental note to bring a map next time, take some pictures, bring a sleeping bag, and then edit your pics so that everyone thinks it was the time of your life. See you there!

*In actual fact, camp food is usually pretty good and Nanoose may be no different...but there is always that off chance that it will be off. If you are twenty-something, however, the quality of food simply doesn't matter - what really matters is that it is food three times a day that you didn't cook or have to clean up after. That, and it's not noodle packages mixed with tuna.

On the Road Again...

I meant to post some photo's of our trip here today for our family and friends...but...for some reason I haven't been able to upload the images today. Sorry. Stay posted and I'll see what I can do...
We miss you.
-Jer

Pastoring Too Hard

There is something very sad about pastoring too hard. Life can fall apart.

Candace and I are constantly broken by the friends and partners in ministry that we know who come flying down a steep hill of pastoring too hard and, when they go to negotiate the corner at the bottom of the hill, the brake pads blow right off the car and they plunge over the cliff into a burning wreck. It wrecks them. It wrecks us. It wrecks Jesus’ church.

Earlier today as I was doing some study and listening to one of my currently favorite bands, The Arcade Fire, I was absolutely broken by a song about the life of pastors. I do not know the spiritual state of the band but I am pretty sure you are not going to find it at your local Christian book store. They do, however, have some very moving songs. Here are some lyrics from the song “Intervention”:

“Working for the church while your families dies…

…Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home…

…Who is going to re-set the bone when you’re walking with you’re heart in a sling…

…Working for the church while my family dies…

…Your little sister is going to lose her mind…

…Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home…

…Working for the church while your life falls apart…

…Singing Hallelujah when you’re failing at home…

…Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home…”

What a strong call to the pastor! As I have been praying for our pastors in BC today I couldn’t help but to really feel the title of this song: Intervention. The opening line of this song simply states: The King has taken back the thrown. To my friends and colleagues who pastor – please remember that Jesus said that it is his church that he is building – it is Jesus’ church. I feel a great burden for each of us today as I pray and think of you.

Grace and Peace,

-Jeremy and Candace.

Happy Boulders

Candace warming up at the Happy Boulders in Bishop, CA. Where is your happy place?

It Snowed Last Night

Candace and I are now one week into our sabbatical and living in a gravel pit in northern California at 4500 feet. Literally - a gravel pit. It is a strange and dusty little place with plenty of rocks, squatters, and a cat the keeps relieving itself near our tent. It is perfect.
It helps me feel God everytime I leave.

Anyways, we are alive and only slightly malnourished.
Go Canucks!
-Jer

Social Intelligence

Best-selling author Daniel Goleman's newest book Social Intelligence has, so far, been absolutely brilliant! I started reading this book this morning and have only just picked my way through the prologue and first couple of chapters. I may be jumping the gun a wee bit, however, I already would like to recommend this book to every leader, pastor, or person whose job it is to relate well with other people.
The premise of this book is simple: We are wired to connect. From this thesis Goleman goes on to open up the science of relationships (social neuroscience) with convincing research, interesting stories, and easy to understand writing to show us how relational intelligence impacts every area of life. You may be very surprised by some of the findings!
Daniel Goleman has also authored the best-selling Emotional Intelligence and recommended Primal Leadership.

Something Starts an Explosion

Supposedly our brain works with surprising efficiency. Not that I ever would have believed that in high school math, but that’s not the point – nobody likes math – it’s too predictable. The electricity firing in the space between our ears is neatly sorting and filing every experience just waiting for the chance to be re-opened. When we face challenges that are similar to past experience our brain already has a tried and tested solution just waiting to bulldoze the competition. We are so predictable.

Like math.

One of the greatest challenges of creative thinking is to not think from our default setting. While defaults are useful for getting the job done they don’t make the job very fun. We do because we have done.

And what gets done is nothing new, creative, or in many cases, very fulfilling.

I have found that getting stuck in default thinking causes me great anxiety and a trigger happy finger just itching to shoot the boredom. In these times I have realized that I need thought igniters to help spark ideas and creativity. Here are a few igniters that get things going for me:

- provocative reading outside my field

- great music

- connecting randomness/free association of words and idea’s (freestyle rappers are among the best in the world at this)

- looking for loopholes in systems

- metaphors about pretty much anything

- bouldering and rest days

- a great story

I believe that pastors and church leaders should be among the most creative bunch of people in the world simply because we have the most predictable job in the world. Our job hasn’t changed in 2000 years…we point people to Jesus. Maybe if we had a few more thought igniters in our lives we wouldn’t have to resort to math.

Time for Sabbatical

Often the soul simply needs some rest, a glass of water, and a massage.

As some of you have already heard, Candace and I will be living in a van for 4-months while we travel and climb through the western half of the United States. Our goal of the trip is to spend some restful time together climbing, reading, writing, and studying Scripture. We will be caravanning through high alpine desert, old growth forest, and surfside towns with names like Las Lagoon or something equally un-Canadian.

Our church, Christian Life Community Church, has given us the time away in what is often referred to as a ‘sabbatical’. A Sabbath, which is where we get the word sabbatical from, may describe a certain day of our week where we produce nothing, where the machine stops and our only job is to enjoy life. This may describe the day of our week where we stop to consider that the planet will still wobble around its axis, the sun will still flicker, possums will still never quite reach the other side of the road, rabbits will still look cute, and life will go on. A weekly Sabbath is a day of our week where we remember God for who God is; a day where we remember that when God finished creating he looked at life and said that it was very good.

While a Sabbath speaks of a day, a sabbatical speaks of a time. A sabbatical describes a time, like in ancient Israel, where crops were not put in the ground for a season for two reasons: (a) to give the land a period of rest so that it would regenerate itself, and (b) to restore the people’s dependency on God. This is a time where life, which God proclaimed as very good, pauses among the clutter of culture to be regenerated and restored to a better place…a place of dependency on the ‘very-good-life-giving-God.’ This is a significant time where livelihoods slow considerably, not in negligence, but to allow for once fertile soil, such as the soul, to rest.

Candace and I are looking forward to our time of rest and regeneration as we travel. In addition to climbing and finding music on my guitar, I am in process of working on a pretty big writing project that requires some extra time devoted specifically to it. We do covet your prayer and thoughts as we travel and study. We will be away April, May, June, and July.

If you do have any questions, thoughts, or encouragement please use the comment section below.
Grace and Peace,
-Jeremy and Candace.