the friesen blog

Over the weekend, I got to hang out with a bunch of young people from my church.  It was a great time of playing ping pong, cards, eating, and hanging out. 

A friend, Jason, who I had only talked with through email was there to share part of his story and God's story.  He did a great job of guiding us through Habakkuk.  How refreshing it was to be reminded that our story is connected with those who have gone before us.  One verse jumped out of the page to me,

I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the LORD will say to me and how he will answer my complaint. 

We had an opportunity to spend some time with others talking through the story from Habakkuk.  I left that experience euphoric with the awareness that Christ is alive. 

Thank-you Jason for reminding us of God's story for us.  And thank-you for some great chats.  The 'emerging' church is greater because of you. 

For my westcoast friends, if you are heading to missionsfeast in Vancouver this weekend, check out the McMaster Divinity College booth (MacDiv) and say hi to my wife Leanne!

i recently came accross a description of the value of asking good questions.  the paragraph said that philosophers rarely get answers right, but that's not the issue the issue is whether or not they are asking the right questions.  it made me think that the times in my life that i have asked good questions are the times when i feel most alive.  the times when i am most engaged with people, questions seem to flow.  i can judge whether or not i am being genuine with someone by the questions i ask.  whether its trying to hear someone's story or understand their point of view or challenge someone to think about something else its all about the question.  the temptation that i sometimes fall to is asking leading questions that are actually more about pigeon holing then journeying together.  so i am renewing my desire to ask good questions.      

we had a friend over for supper last night and i told her about a sensation that i get every once and a while.  i had the sensation way back in the days of free napster when i had access to any music i wanted and yet remember sitting in front of my computer blank.  i had the sensation when i am in a huge book store.  so many books but i am not sure if i am ready to engage in any of them.  douglas coupland has a definition for this experience in generation x.  arthur and marilouise kroker had a definition of this in their now extinct online panic encyclopedia. 

does anybody else know about this feeling?    

Here is a link to satallite images of some of the coasts that were hit by the Tsunami.  You may have seen some of the images on the news. 

http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/9.html

When I looked at the first before and after image I my cynicism noticed that the first set of images looked more devistating because one image appears to be taken at high tide and the other at low tide.  But as I looked at all 20 before and after images my heart began to sink. 

Forgive me.

Okay so embodying connection has gone to a whole new level.  Yesterday, I got a cell phone.  It belongs to the church that I work at but it is now connected to my hip.  When I was thinking about connection for this year a cell phone was the last thing I was thinking about. 

I am teaching an introductory course in theology at Redeemer University College.  I have only taught one class but I am already enjoying the process of thinking through what it is that Christians believe about God and how do those ideas impact ones life.  This is an excellent process for my own faith journey.  Trying to put together the essential belief’s about God in a way that is accessible and in a way that values the spiritual journey of each student is challenging and hopefully rewarding for both teacher and student.   

Each year I have a word of the year.  It is part of my personal liturgy for the year.  A word that helps guide my thoughts, meditations, prayers, and interactions.  I have been engaging in this practice for about five years now.  However this year has been quite different.  Up until now I have been somewhat open to sharing my words of the year with others, if I find it relevant in conversation I will bring it up and share.  Most of the time though it is somewhat private.  But this year I am quite open to share my word, even to the point of basically broadcasting it (I suppose it is now open for the world to hear).  I am very intentional about this - taking a personal practice and making it available for others to hear and engage with.  The reason is my word for the year is connection.  I want to embody my word for the year.