Congrats!

Graduation day! Today we congratulate you Bethany, our daughter, for four years of very hard work, as you receive your Bachelor of Theology degree.

It's not the piece of paper that you receive today that is of the most value, nor even all the reams of knowledge that have been crammed into your brain in four years.

You have had four years out of the shelter of your parents' home to make decisions about every area of life, from food, money, travel, home, and time management; to coping with pressures of a job; deadlines for school assignments and projects; tests and exams; organizing school council functions; church involvement; interaction with people of a broad range of cultures; building a network of peers, profs, pastors, and mentors; job interviews; and having a social life in the midst of it all. But even all of that, as important as it has all been to your maturity and success in a job, it is not the most important thing you've received in graduating.

Rather, you have told us how your soul and passion have been impacted by the life you've seen lived out by your profs, pastors, and mentors, the challenges presented by them and the valuable tools, support and prayers by them for you to be more like Christ and impact the world.

I remember you e-mailing me a few months ago after you had a particularly awesome day at school. Some individuals who are impacting their community were brought in to speak to your class. One was a woman who runs a centre that provides practical, emotional, and spiritual help to people suffering from AIDS, cancer and life-threatening diseases. She asked the students in your class point blank how they are going to help people like these who need them. She brought with her a man who shared that he had been abused as a child, lived in the gay community and on the street, and has suffered greatly with AIDS and rejection. His life has been turned around and he is now helping out at this organization. Both challenged you and your classmates, asking how you are going to help a hurting world, and reminded all of you that it's all about loving people and building relationship with individuals. You mentioned also that you heard from a youth, individual and family therapist. At the conclusion of the day, you poured out your passion for youth in your e-mail and asked me to promise to remind you of this day at any time in the future when you might get tired or doubt your calling.

Recently amid all the decision making about your future, you said, " If I can just build close relationships with the young people that will be within my influence...I want to do all I can to impact their lives."

We could not be more proud of you Bethany. You have persevered when the going was rough and have not been distracted from the goal or deterred by the obstacles. But more importantly.....MUCH more importantly......you GET it. There are some hurting, growing, awesome young people out there who are waiting for you, and you are anxious to meet them. Knowledge and learning is good and useful - never wasted and spurs you on to keep learning. Earning a degree helps open doors that might not otherwise have opened. But it's God who will always equip you...He's more than enough for what you need. It's His love for people that will remain as your inspiration. Keep His passion for people alive within you and He'll direct your path into theirs.

Congratulations Bethany! We love you!!!

Underdog

So much talk of the underdog these days. I must admit I had not followed the fame of other 'underdogs' from the infamous 'Britain's Got Talent' show, and only became interested in it as I poked around on the internet after viewing Ms Boyle's performance. I was moved when I watched the first audition of Paul Potts who won it two years ago (where was I? I've never heard of him! Mind you, I hardly ever watch TV!). I was a little misty-eyed when I watched Susan Boyle though everyone else seemed to be sobbing. But....Paul Potts....he made me cry. Must be the mother in me or something. It's his face.....the puppy dog eyes...so shy....no confidence....but loves to sing opera. I hate opera. But Paul Potts mesmerized me in his first audition. Something makes me wish that these ordinary people who are suddenly pushed into the limelight, would just say no to all the money and the fame and the promises, and simply say, "Thanks. But all I wanted was to prove I could win it", and then just go on to use their talent wherever and however they would like....no agents required. To become rich and famous and 'Hollywood' instead of just ordinary kinda ruins it, don't ya think? It is the ordinary that makes them attractive. We don't need more celebrities. We need more real people.

Here's Paul Pott's initial audition....and I've thrown in one other audition by Andrew Johnston below that. Here's to ordinary people. Like you and me...maybe not with exceptional musical talent....but we are all unique and valued and extraordinary in who we are. Most of us just don't know it yet.

Simon Cowell got it right.... "You're better than you think you are...you are good!"

(Please turn off My Playlist at right before viewing!)

Are you one of the 7 million??

Over seven million people have now watched this YouTube video of Susan Boyle. Susan who?? If you're one who hasn't seen this yet, I dare you to watch it and not have a tear or two in your eye. Many weep and watch it over and over. Why? Perhaps we're reminded not to judge a book by it's cover. Perhaps we are reminded of how quickly we jump to conclusions when we have no right to. And perhaps most of us relate to the underdog with a dream. Don't ever stop dreaming.

Enjoy....and keep the kleenex handy.

The video is not able to be embedded, so I provide a link for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Irreducible

The Irreducible Minimum.

Somewhere in the recesses of my school memories I remember struggling with math questions - factoring until you reached the minimum - couldn't go any farther - the finale - the finish. Irreducible: impossible to reduce to a simpler form of expression.

That's kind of how I view Christ willingly laying himself down on the cross.

God.... the Creator... brings His love down as far as He can go. Agonizing.... but choosing to become 'one of us' to give everything.....everything. Impossible to go any farther than giving all He had. It's finished.

Did you catch the significance of that curtain in the temple that ripped from the top to the bottom at the moment of His death? That curtain used to separate the ordinary person from the presence of a holy God. It's finished. We now have direct access. We have direct access.... to a holy God!... who loved us enough to follow through right to the end!

Does that astound you?

After all the working and searching and calculating we do...

It all comes down to this. He's the final answer.

At the cross we're all equal

He knows us..... but there's no condemnation

Forgiveness....paid in full

There's no great significance to the tree....the pieces of wood on which Christ died. But if I ever lose the wonder of what happened there....I'll be struggling with questions - toiling and factoring until I come back to the irreducible minimum.

"...May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross.
May I see it
like the first time
Standing as a sinner lost,
Undone by mercy and left
speechless,
Watching wide eyed at the cost.
May I never lose the wonder,
The wonder of the cross...."

Written by Vicky Beeching 2007

Christ didn't have any sin. But God made him become sin for us. So we can be made right with God because of what Christ has done for us.

(II Corinthians 5:21 - The Bible)

96 Parts = 96 Hours

I like to feel that I'm not useless when it comes to putting things together - you know like building bookcases or a stereo stand. Especially from Ikea. Ikea instructions often have no words....just user friendly pictures with little Pacman-like faces with smiles or frowns to show how-to or how not-to-do it.

My dear, patient husband succombed to my pleas to purchase a heavy duty 200 pound exercise home gym, because I'm all trained in weight training but hate going to the gym to use only a few specialized machines. As soon as my son moved out....well.... I waited a day....I began to set up his old bedroom as an exercise room. Rather than being resigned to the basement, I can now exercise in a bright room designed for comfort....um, I mean sweat and hard work. I have piled up old classic CDs that I haven't listened to in forever, and this room becomes a place where great music meets physical exertion. Of course a great kickstart was my doctor giving me 3 months to get my cholesterol down through diet and exercise. Weight bearing exercise helps considerably....thus we struggled to bring home the aforementioned 200 pound box.

I'll spare you the details of how it went getting the thing home....although it was rather humorous hearing the paging system in the department store as we took the item through the jewellery section to speed up the process. "Carryout to Jewellery please! Carryout to Jewellery!" (Customers had visions of huge diamonds). They sent a tiny young teenage girl to help with carryout....who summoned additional help from a male.

So there's 96 pieces to this sucker. No Pacman-like faces here. No simplistic pictures. Lots of words. And numbers. My husband perused the 'book' of directions with a wild look in his eye. But soon he was up for the challenge and said, "Some people are challenged by crossword puzzles..... (that would be me, sometimes)....others...." His voice trailed off as he spread out the 96 pieces over the table and floor.

Check out Diagram 1.

Now Diagram 2.

Now 3 and 4.

.....aaaaaaand there's more.....number 5....

And finally Diagram 6.

I concede this is too much for me. My husband got a start on it, but only had a few hours before he had to leave for Montreal for the week, so it will definitely sit until he returns.

The great thing is, that once I'm in shape, if we buy anything else this heavy, I can lift it into the trunk while my husband returns the trolley cart. That's a fair exchange since he'll have to put it together...and really....a man's got to learn how to follow directions SOMEtime.