End of year reflection: the Heart of the Father, take 2

It's good to be given second chances. I had the chance to revise and give this message to the people at the Bridge toward the end of 2007. If you have been following my blog, you will know I gave an abridged version of the same message to some of the youth in Reading.

Having a second chance is neat. It has helped me to rethink some of the points and to better describe in words, what I believe God has been teaching me.

You can read it here, or listen to it here.

Christmas 2007

Rib-eye Roast Beef with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. Yummy.

Family dinner. Three generations here.

Lots of presents. Small living room.

Saskatoon in the winter

OK, so in case you ever wondered what I do for a living, I work in the IT department of a small agricultural trading company. About half of my job involves Java programming (doing front-end UI design for a new business system) and the other half involves system and network administration. I enjoy both aspects of my job very much.

This winter (as seems to be the running trend now for two years in a row...) I had the honour of visiting Saskatoon again to install our new server room closet for our new office. It was fun! ...and tiring! Though at one point the thought did cross my mind, as I was bolting in server lockers, as to where exactly this was listed on my original job description. :-) Things evolve I guess...!

Anyhow, the real adventure didn't start until I was due to fly home. The flight out of Saskatoon (to Calgary) was due at 9:30pm. My flight was delayed until nearly 12:30am when of course all Calgary -> Vancouver flights were done for the night. It wasn't all bad though - it is quite interesting how events like this can bring the most unusual people together. I had quite an engaging conversation with a young, intelligent university student and a very old grandmother! It was also fascinating to observe the optimists and the pessimists in the room. It certainly made for some interesting conversation. Most of all, it was hilarious (though not helpful) to hear WestJet's (the other airline) constant jabs at Air Canada.

"For the information of those passengers traveling on WestJet flight 136, we are not currently affected by the weather [unlike Air Canada's flight] as we fly jets, not turbo props."

Probably the thing that worried me the most though was getting home in time for Erich's 2nd birthday, which, though delayed by one night, did happen. He was so happy to see me, and that is always a joy.

Erichxercise: Get in shape! (and way too funny not to post)

Karen has an interesting nighttime regiment before she goes to bed. Out come the 3 pound dumbbells and the sit-ups.... not that I'm complaining of course - it helps to maintain her beautiful looks :-)

Anyhow, Erich decided one day that he must have dumbbells too. So I fashioned some out of his LEGO, and this was the result.

Erich turns TWO!

A little taller. A little wiser. And a lot more talkative. Erich turns two today. As promised, we took a photo of him and his past portraits.

Happy Birthday little Erich!

More on Eddie's trip

Karen and I have had the privilege of knowing Eddie over the past year. We met through the Bridge Church. In addition to being his small group leader, we have come to know him as a friend. We have seen him grow in his faith, and walk with Christ.

This year, he embarks on an incredible adventure to Liberia where he will be serving aboard one of the Mercy Ships - the African Mercy. This ship is a hospital ship and serves the people where she is docked by performing well needed surgeries. Eddie, who comes from an engineering / IT background, underwent a major career change at the beginning of last year to pursue what he has always loved. As a result of that change, he also saw opportunity where he can serve the Lord with his newfound skills.

Eddie -- we will miss you, but we are also incredibly encouraged by what God has been doing in your life. May your mission to Africa be fruitful, and may you remember that the Lord God is faithful all the time, even when the going gets tough. Since you will be baking lots and lots of bread, I thought it would appropriate to encourage you with this verse (okay okay, I just couldn't help it... :-)):

Deuteronomy 8:3 - He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

The context is that the Lord God led the Israelites out of Egypt and provided for them. Here, in Deuteronomy, the Israelites are being reminded of God's faithfulness. Jesus uses part of this verse to rebuke Satan in Matthew 4:4 while he is tempted.

The application here is that we are not to forget the Lord and particularly his promise that He will be faithful to His people. Therefore, when tough times come you may be tempted to be solely focused on doing your work (i.e. baking bread) - but do not forget that this trip is also about spiritual growth. Feed others (physically), but also let God feed you spiritually.

To the people of the African mercy -- you've got an incredibly dedicated baker coming your way. Fasten your seatbelts!

You can follow Eddie's adventure on his blog at http://tuborgx.blogspot.com/.

A very special birthday cake!

Our friend Eddie Wong (former IT consultant, turned pastry chef) is about to embark on an incredible adventure to Africa where he will be baking and serving aboard a hospital Mercy ship. More on this in a later post.

Anyway, before Eddie left, he wanted to make something very special for Erich. In line with Erich's passion for trains, and our taste for good dark chocolate, Eddie made a chocolate-almond mousse cake for Erich's 1 359/365th birthday. It was delicious!

Erich called it the eisenbahn cake. (German for railway cake). We took some photos of the cake, then when Eddie went to cut it, Erich was so upset! He didn't want his locomotive cut in half. Oh well. He stopped complaining soon after we gave him some. :-)

Oregon: a trip Erich won't soon forget!

Toward the end of November, we took a family road trip down to the Oregon Coast. We had gotten some inexpensive accommodations in Seaside, Oregon so we decided to make a short trip out of it. It just so happened to be American Thanksgiving (and black Friday), and it also so happened that the Canadian dollar was flying at an all time high (about $1.10). That meant that while I was taking Erich to see lots of museums, Karen got to do some early Christmas shopping.


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We started Thursday evening, stopped by Seattle Premium Outlets, then proceeded to South Seattle where we stayed the night. Little did Erich know what his Daddy had in store the next day.

Museum of Flight

Cashing in on the success of our previous trip to the Canadian Museum of flight, I decided I would take him to the Museum of Flight at Boeing. His face lit up as he saw the numerous planes parked on the lawn and he could not believe that I was bringing him to see another airplane museum. (or as he says: "daddy bring me to the airplane musemum")

One of the major showpieces of the exhibit was the Concorde. Karen and I had the privilege of seeing the Concorde back in 2003 when it was still flying. It would sonic boom just over Reading, UK each morning, so the sound was unmistakable. Now, Erich was able to see this piece of history first hand. We stepped onto the plane and observed the rather small but comfortable seats.

Erich also had lots of fun sitting and playing with the various children's exhibits designed to demonstrate the various controls of an airplane.

Woodburn, Oregon

After we took in a few acres of exhibits, we fetched Karen from the mall and proceeded to drive down through Portland to Woodburn. Woodburn is the outlet shopper's paradise: with the high dollar, no sales tax in Oregon, and the enormous selection at the Woodburn Company Stores, we stocked up on dress shirts and trousers that I seem to wear out almost like candy.

Seaside, Oregon

After staying the night in Woodburn, we proceeded to drive to the Oregon Coast and stayed at a coastal town called Seaside. Here, we mostly stayed, taking in the beautiful scenery and the unique sights. We took Erich to the Carousel Mall where they have an old fashion carousel.


We also took Erich down to Tillamook where we visited the cheese factory and saw yet another airplane museum - this time of old World War II planes housed in former blimp hanger. Erich thoroughly enjoyed both. I find it so interesting how he is fascinated at these big marvels of machinery at such an early age, and I wonder what the influence it will have on him. I still remember that some of things I became most fascinated about as a young adult stemmed from my experiences as a child.

The Weather!

Part of the reason why our accommodation rates were so inexpensive was because we were going off season. The weather played a huge role in helping to deter tourists, but as Vancouverites who are used to the rain, it wasn't so bad. Besides, I often find that just after a rainstorm is the best time to take beautiful pictures!

The only really scary part of the trip was driving along Highway 101 (the coastal highway) one night in pitch darkness with the rain pouring down in droves. I mean the rain was BAD! Visibility was next to none, and the locals were still tailgating me expecting me to go the speed limit (of 50mph). In hindsight though, it could have been a lot worse - in fact a week after we got back to Vancouver, the area was flooded and Oregon and Washington declared temporary states of emergency.