Fantastic Day

Today was the best day I have had in a very long time. Megs and I spent the whole day together, driving, hiking, talking, eating, planning and scheming for ways to make the rest of the summer this fantastic. We drove the Highwood Pass - the highest drivable pass in Canada. You can see the summit sign here.

So, just to prove how fantastic it was (in case you don't see me before my "you missed some spots" sunburn fades), let me give you some pictures, and some commentary to go with the pictures.

This is us at the Esso station in Longview. We picked up some of the famous Longview Beef Jerky, and headed up into the pass from there.






This is Megs, by the sign for Pickle Jar creek. We're collecting funny signs this summer.








This is Ptarmigan Cirque.


















Here you have Megs sampling some of the ice cold mountain water, and a couple of the nicer scenery shots we took.

As we drove back to the city, we began scheming and came up with a list of ten or so things that we're going to do together (and with other friends if they'd like to join us) over the next three months. We're going to document each thing with pictures or journal entries, or both, and put together a scapbook of our summer. We've already started on the pages for today.

It was such a blessing and refreshment to spend this day in the the mountains with one of my closest friends. We talked about God and church last night, and life and boys, and food, and plans for the future. We schemed and planned fun for the rest of the summer, talked about bikinis, and even went shopping for bathings suits (she found one, I didn't yet...)

But we mostly just hung out, listened to each other, shared life, the things God is showing us, the things we want to learn and understand about Him, and enjoyed the freedom from distraction, the fresh air, the beauty of one of my favorite parts of the mountains, and the chance to simply be together. We got lost, at ice cream at a mountain store, ate beef jerky, ate a lot of apples and carrots, drank water from a mountain stream, listened to at least 5 different cds, saw a black bear, and a whole lot of big horned sheep, nearly swerved into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting a gopher (her not me), hiked a six kilometer loop that climbed the mountain to the beautiful meadow and cirque and then wound its way back down, shopped for supplies for our scrapbook, learned how to upload photos from her camera to my computer and how to print photos from her memory card at Walmart, got sunburned, had Subway for dinner, went bathing suit shopping and so on. And the whole time we just caught up on each others lives, talked about the things we struggle with, and the things we're loving right now, caught up on each other's families and mutual friends. We had no time restraints, nothing to be back for, no schedule, and we loved every minute of it.

Praise God for the blessing of a beautiful day spent with friends!

Day Hike?

I forgot in my last post. A friend and I are planning to go hiking for part of the day on Monday in the Highwood Pass (weather permitting). If you've never been in this part of Kanaskis, it's beautiful. The Highwood Pass is the highest drivable elevation in Canada, and the road is closed for half the year every year because of the elevation and snowfall among other things. At the summit of the pass, there is a beautiful hiking trail called Ptarmigan Cirque. I've done it a couple of times in the past, and the elevation gain is challenging, but fairly easily accomplished if you go a bit slowly. I think even young children could probably do it - most of them being in far better physical condition than me!

If you'd be interested in joining us, drop me an email, or give my cell phone a call. As far as I know we'll probably head out sometime in the morning, hike the first half of the trail (the hard, uphill climb part!) eat lunch in the meadow on top of the mountain, then hike the second half and drive home to be back in time for supper.

loosey goosey liturgy?

I'm excited and a bit nervous for church tomorrow night. A good friend of mine, a girl I went to high school with has decided to attend church with me. Which is exciting, because so very few of my friends outside of church are truly interested in spiritual things.

This friend has always been what I would consider a "spiritual" person. And I'm excited that she's willing to come check out church with me.

But here's the thing. She was raised Roman Catholic. We met in a Catholic high school. (Now, I have a longstanding love and respect for the Catholic church born out of a variety of circumstances including my family connections, the time in the high school, and a bachelors degree in church history, all of which can be expounded upon some other day!) But I attend a Vineyard church.

She's used to liturgy, and I'm taking her with me to a church where the "order of service" is loosey-goosey at best. And I wonder a little if the things that used to shock me will surprise someone who is used to the set in stone liturgy that has changed little in the last 5 centuries.

But hey... I've assured her that she doesn't have to participate in anything that she doesn't want to, and we'll go from there. I'm praying that it will be a positive experience, and that she will connect with people in meaningful ways as she has mentioned boredom and loneliness after moving back to Calgary following five years of university in Ontario.

Thoughts on the run...

I've only got a couple of minutes. I'm in the middle of a stretch of full shifts at the Bay, and I have one in a couple of hours. Before that, though, I'm going shopping with a friend for bridal shower gifts.

The little boy I mentioned in my last post is home. The doctors think it was simply a severe virus as nothing showed up in any of their tests.

Haven't heard anything new about a job. I'll be in contact with the placement agency on Monday to see if they have anything on the horizon for me.

Interesting Days

It's been an interesting couple of days. Not interesting in the "major world shifting events" sense of the word, but interesting in the "lots of little things have happened that inspire deep pondering" sense of the word.

I spent a chunk of Monday morning playing with a beautiful little boy from my dad's church while his mom had a conversation with my dad. His parents are new believers, and face a number of challenges that would stress even the strongest person. All three of their children have a rare disease that creates a wide variety of serious challenges for them. Add to that the fact that they are the only siblings in the world with this disease (no other family has more than one child with this disorder), and that specialists in the field are rare, and you have an interesting combo. If you add to that the fact that the youngest one, the cutie I spent the morning with on Monday, is profoundly deaf, you have a combo guaranteed to make stress a daily reality. After he and his mom left our house, their family, and particularly him continued to be on my mind through the day and most of Tuesday.

Yesterday we got a phone call from his dad. The little one was taken to hospital yesterday, seriously ill. Today he's been somewhat stabilized, and they may move him from intensive care, but he remains extremely ill, and they're uncertain as to the cause. Funny how he was so heavily on my mind, in my thoughts and prayers, and the next day he was taken to hospital so very ill.

I had lunch with a friend on Tuesday as well. We talked about life and god stuff and boys. She's been a close friend for a couple of years now, and God has been doing some fun stuff in her life lately. We try to have a meal or coffee together at least once a week to stay abreast of what's happening with each other and with each other's families. We ran a couple of errands together, and then she headed off to work.

I also spent last evening with friends at a birthday party. I greatly enjoyed the chance to simply hang out with people who are new friends (I met most of them on my trip to Mexico) but who have quickly become deeply valued friends. I love how God connections can create deep and meaningful relationships with others - the central thing to both parties is Christ, and that binds hearts in a way that I've rarely encountered elsewhere.

On the job front, Samaritans' Purse called me yesterday. They gave the position I was interested in to someone else, but apparently enjoyed meeting me, and have asked to keep my resume on file for future positions. So I guess that's a good thing. I also had an interview at a placement agency this morning, and wow! I've interviewed at a few different agencies recently, and been assured that they could place me, and then never heard from them again. This agency set me up for an interview with a company this afternoon, and have promised that they will be in touch in the next few days with at least one or two more possibilities. Or, I could possibly have a job by the end of tomorrow with the company I interviewed with today. So, on that front, I'm encouraged where I had been quite discouraged. It had seemed that I was getting very little interest in my qualifications and resumes that I sent out, but today has lifted my spirits.

Other than that, I have little to report. I've found some images for my art project, but will probably still be looking for others. I'm reading a fascinating book titled "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell of the NOOMA filsm fame. He discusses the idea that our understanding of Jesus, of Scripture, and of Christianity must be informed by Judaism. Very convincing and interesting points. I've also downloaded a few of his recent sermons and quite enjoyed them. I've read my share of novels the last while, watched some television, a movie or so (Nacho Libre - very funny), sent a few emails, played a few games, and tomorrow I go back to the Bay for the rest of the week. Can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I am clinging to the hope of more interviews and the possibility that I will be offered a good job sometime in the next day or two!