The love of my life... (Part II)

How could I not reply to such a glowing proclamation of love? Nathan is obviously the love of my life! So here are some of my favourite photos of Nath...

Nath, I love you and your...
* willingness to try new things
* love for God
* tender heart and gentle, caring nature
* forward planning and deep thinking
* warm hands and hugs
* ability to think outside the square
* poetic tendencies
* hunger for learning (especially in people)
* twinkling blue eyes and expressive eyebrows
* and all the ways you show me how much you love me!

This incredible woman is only able to be incredible because you are so wonderful!

The love of my life...

... is, of course, Bronwyn. We have known each other for most of our lives - since she was 4 years old, and yours truly was 6 years old. Today we have been married 9 years!

The selection of pictures that go with this post, are some of my favourite pictures of Bronwyn.

Bronwyn, I love you and your...

* Ginger hair and beautiful smile

* Incredible intellect

* Love of learning

* Creativity and ability to innovate

* Generosity in opening our home and your heart to others

* Gifts of hospitality, teaching, encouragement, service, organisation and leadership

* Warm personality that makes people feel at home

* Love of cooking. Who can beat your luscious lemon cake, perfect pancakes,

and marvelous muffins (do you like the alliteration?)

* Practical faith

* Willingness to follow our Triune God wherever He leads us

* Love of children and your passion to see them learn and grow

* Ability to keep me grounded in the present, when I'm often thinking about the future

In a nutshell: You are an incredible woman! You are the love of my life!

From Pentecost Sunday

Sentence for the day:
"The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:5

Prayer for the day:
Father, you have filled your people with the Spirit
who rested first on your Son
and united us in your Church;
open the channels for your Spirit
that we may freely work together,
and your kingdom and your rule increase.
Amen.

To which I add my own prayer...

It is amazing to think...
That the One who hovered over the earth at creation
Also dwells in my heart.
It is amazing to think...
That the One who empowered the God-Man, Jesus Christ
Also empowers my life.
Come, Holy Spirit, come.
Take hold of me
That every aspect of my life would reflect the image of the Triune God.
Grant me great sensitivity to Your voice
As You lead me into Your truth
Forgive me when I have grieved You by pursuing my own agenda instead of Your ways
Help me to seek the unity of the Church
To love all that the Father has created
And to yearn and to work for the renewal of all things.
In Christ's name I pray.
Amen.

Graduation and Goodbyes

Monday night was a time of celebration at Convocation (Graduation) for Regent College students. Bronwyn and Claire both graduated with the Diploma in Christian Studies. In addition, Bronwyn was awarded "The Board of Governors' Prize for Proficiency in the Diploma of Christian Studies". This is a very high honour; it basically means she was the top student of all those students graduating with the Diploma in Christian Studies. After the ceremony, Don Lewis, who is the Academic Dean at Regent College, came up to me and said: "You and I have something in common, Nathan." "What's that?" I replied. "We both married women who are smarter than we are!" I smiled; and heartily agreed! (Don's wife, Lindi, who is a gifted linguist, attends the same church as we do).

Claire - Bron and I are very proud of you! Congratulations! And Bron - "The Board of Governors' Prize for Proficiency in the Diploma of Christian Studies" is a reflection of your intelligence, creativity and innovation, hard work, and determination. I'm very, very, very proud of you!

The morning following Graduation, we drove down to Seattle to take April to the airport, so she could fly to Denver. We consider April to be part of our family, and we love her dearly, so we will miss her during the next couple of months while she is working in Wyoming.

Claire, Bron and I stayed down in Seattle over night. We spent Wednesday morning exploring Borders Bookshop, Pike Market, the surrounding shops, and the water front. We also enjoyed some scrummy crumpets and fish and chips. We drove back to Vancouver that afternoon. It was great to spend time with Claire before she returns to NZ. We're glad she's part of our family, too!

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The following are our plans for the next couple of months:

* Nathan returns to NZ this Friday to work at the NZ Treasury for about 6 weeks.

* Bronwyn returns to NZ mid-May, after completing the "Food Course" with Loren and Mary-Ruth Wilkinson on Galiano Island.

* Attend Alastair and Kim's wedding on 21 June.

* Fly back home to Vancouver on 23 June in time for Nathan to start Summer School Hebrew (aka "Suicide Hebrew").

P.S. We hope to update our web album in the next couple of days with pictures from Graduation and our trip to Seattle. You may notice that Nathan's pupils are quite dilated in these pictures. This is owing to the cold medication he was taking. The study hasn't made him crazy, yet! :0

I'm finished!

I'm surrounded by books, the place is a "bomb site", I'm tired (I didn't get to bed until 3am), I'm missing Bronwyn (who is on Galiano at the moment), BUT... I'm pleased to report that my academic year has come to an end, with the completion of my exegesis paper on Luke 3:21-22. And what a year it has been!

There are two things I want to quickly share, before I head off to Galiano. These may seem a bit random, but I hope not!

1. Just before we left NZ in 2006 I had a short dream (or was it a vision?) in which I saw a large footprint on the sand. A smaller human foot then placed itself on the larger footprint. As I awoke, I sensed the Lord saying to me: "I will lead you one step at a time, as you follow me." This dream has been my reality over the last academic year. I praise God for the way he has lead me step by step; and trust Him that he will continue to do so.

2. Ephesians 3:20 says: Now unto him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to the power that is at work within us. I now KNOW at the very core of my being that God can do more than I ask or imagine! He has shown me this over the last academic year. And my heartfelt response in knowing this is to complete Ephesians 3:20: to him be all glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!

Choosing to Trust

Feeling like a square peg in a round hole.
Recognising, once again, that my life will be unconventional; lived outside the square.
An oddity and a sign to others.
Feeling the tension of being a pioneer but not wanting to "rock the boat".
Needing to refocus on the One who can be totally trusted.
I offer this prayer of St Brendan to You, LORD.
Not only for me, but for my two brothers (LW & MM), and all those who choose to trust and to follow...
No matter what!

Lord, I will trust You,
help me to journey beyond the familiar
and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways
and to break fresh ground with You.

I determine amidst all the uncertainty
always to trust.

I choose to live beyond regret,
and let You recreate my life.

I believe You will make a way for me
and provide for me,
if only I trust You
and obey.

I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times are in Your hand.

I will believe You for my future,
chapter by chapter, until all the story is written.

Focus my mind and my heart upon You,
my attention always on You without alteration.

Strengthen me with Your blessing
and appoint to me the task.

Teach me to live with eternity in view.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven.

Feed me,
and, somehow,
make my obedience count for You.

Kierkegaard on Love

For one of my courses at Regent - which I have a love-hate relationship with - I'm required to do "additional reading". We have some choice in what we read. Tonight I sat down and read a selection of writings from Danish philosopher/theologian Soren Kierkegaard, collected under the title "The Works of Love" (kind of appropriate given it's Valentine's Day, I guess). There were several things that struck me about Kierkegaard's thoughts on love; especially, that true love perseveres.

These are a couple of the passages that I underlined in my book (apologies for the exclusive language):

The one who truly loves never falls away from love. He can never reach the breaking-point. Yet is it possible to prevent a break in a relationship between two persons, especially when the other has given up? If the lover is determined to not fall away from love, he can prevent the break, he can perform this miracle; for if he perseveres, a total break can never really come to be.

- - -

Does the dance cease because one dancer has gone away? In a certain sense, yes. But if the other still remains standing in the posture that expresses a turning towards the one who has left... then you will say, "Now the dance will begin just as soon as the other comes."

- - -

God perseveres in His love for us! He never reaches breaking-point! I believe the triune God is just like the dancer "standing in the posture that expresses a turning towards" each one of us. In many areas of our lives God perseveres; longing; waiting patiently for us to join Him in the divine dance.

When I read these extracts from Kierkegaard, I also thought of 1 Corinthians 13:7: Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. This is God's love; a love he also wants us to show to others!

Responding to all of this, I wrote a very simple prayer: God - I pray that my love for you and others would be like this! I hope this will be your prayer too.

NICM

Christmas... again!

On Monday we took the opportunity to celebrate Christmas (again!) with our Vancouver family. We ate and drank well, laughed a lot (our cheeks were sore), exchanged gifts, and shared stories. We closed the evening with prayer, thanking God for all that he has done and is doing in our lives. It was a great night shared with April and Claire!

From doubt and fear... to fear and faith

Some parts of the Christian Church (mainly Orthodox) will celebrate Epiphany tomorrow because 2008 is a leap year. The Greek word Epiphany simply means revelation; in the Christian calendar, this festival is a celebration of the revelation of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Over the last month or so, I’ve had a few epiphanies myself! One of these was how the interaction between doubt and fear and fear and faith has played out in my own life.

In Genesis 3 we read the story of how the serpent convinced Eve, and then Adam, to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. The serpent’s strategy for getting Adam and Eve to eat the fruit was simple: convince them that God did not have their best interests at heart. In other words, get them to believe the seductive lie that God is not good. Notice, too, that when Adam and Eve believe this lie, and subsequently eat the fruit, it produces fear. When God calls to Adam in the Garden, “Where are you?”, Adam answers, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Gen. 3:9-10)

What I find interesting about this account, is how it speaks to our own experience. Whenever we succumb to the lie that God doesn’t love us and, therefore, doesn’t want the very best for us, it produces fear in our lives. In turn, fear causes us to hide from God and from one another. We erect barriers in our lives, shutting out God and others, in order to ‘manage’ our fear. In its extreme form, this fear can paralyse us, and we ‘exist’ rather than live. It’s a life characterised by a downward spiral of doubt (in God’s goodness), fear (that enslaves us), doubt, fear...

This is far from the life that God would have us live. So the Holy Spirit is actively working to set us free from this sort of fear, and to replace it with another; what the Bible describes as the “fear of the LORD.” To “fear” the LORD means to be in awe of God. To be amazed by God’s goodness, love, mercy, justice, wisdom and power. And what does this sort of fear produce? Faith!! Show me a person who is in awe of God, and I will show you a person whose life is marked by faith; a person who is prepared to step out in faith as the Holy Spirit leads. It’s a life characterised by an upward spiral of fear (an awe of who God is), faith (an active trust in God), fear, faith...

My personal epiphany in this area came one night as I was talking at dinner. Looking back over my life, I saw how the Holy Spirit has been progressively leading me from fear and doubt to fear and faith. There have been many times when I’ve been tempted to let doubt and fear stop me from living a life of fear and faith. One example is being open with others, particularly the congregation we were leading in NZ, about my own struggles. I nearly didn’t, because I was so afraid. Another example is the fear Bronwyn and I felt as we left good jobs, a home we loved, and family and friends to attend Regent College. On these two occasions, why was I so fearful? Because I was tempted to believe a lie: God isn’t good, so I can’t trust in God to come through for me. Thankfully, on each occasion God reminded me of who he is, and this enabled me to step out in faith.

I’m still a bundle of doubt and fear and fear and faith. Recently, I’ve really struggled with fears associated with loving like Christ, in new ways, beyond my (now previous!) categories. On several occasions, I’ve been tempted to pull back, but the Spirit has held me fast. And I’m glad he has, because it’s helped me to grow in the life of fear and faith, and I’ve been abundantly blessed.

So what about you? In what ways are doubt and fear preventing you from living the life of fear and faith? May the Spirit of God continue to lead us from a life of doubt and fear to the abundant life of fear and faith.

Blessings
Nathan

Winter Break Activities

With a new term about to start tomorrow, it is probably time we shared what we've been doing in the last month. Our friend, Sam, arrived on our last day of term (and leaves us next Sunday to return to NZ) so many of our activities have been helping him explore Vancouver and its surrounds.

Once Nathan's final exam and Bronwyn's final assignment were completed we were free to relax a little before Christmas. Some last minute Christmas shopping and a round of catch-ups with friends filled in the week nicely. We also took Sam across on the sea-bus to Lonsdale Quay, walked through Gastown, and also visited the Vancouver Aquarium.

On Christmas Eve we cooked a traditional Christmas dinner and ate with our friends, Esther and Kev. It seemed much more appropriate to be eating roast chicken with cranberry stuffing, and steamed pudding in the cold weather of the Northern hemisphere winter than it does in NZ's summer! So no pavlova and strawberries on the menu this year.

Christmas Day dawned grey and rainy (as many days do here!) but Sam's snow prayers were answered, and he got his 'white Christmas' by the mid afternoon. After a less-hectic-than-usual Christmas day we went to Claire's house in the late afternoon and had dinner with her housemates and a collection of other 'family-less' people from their church and work circles. It was a feast of turkey, lamb, potatoes, yams (like orange kumara), broccoli salad, brussel sprouts, and all the trimmings. Dessert included crepes with ricotta or nutella, icecream, and Christmas cake. We could have easily rolled home down the hill by the end of the evening, so our waistlines haven't really benefitted from not having our mums' cooking for Christmas!

Boxing Day saw us working off some of that food by taking the ferry to Bowen Island (off West Van) and walking near the lake with Sam and Claire. After the Christmas snowfall, the trip was full of postcard-worthy scenery. The day was rounded off with a (very late) lunch of fish and chips (with cod, halibut, and salmon on offer).

Another site-seeing day took us to Granville Island: to the markets, through the artsy shops, and on a tour of Granville Island Brewery. Bronwyn was surprised to find a beer she liked! Sam and Nathan enjoyed finishing off the rest of her tastings.

On New Year's Eve we hired a car, took another ferry to Vancouver Island and stayed in a hostel in Victoria for three days. We were lucky to see two bald eagles swoop down past our car as we waited to board the ferry. They are much bigger than you would expect! In Victoria we watched an IMAX film, walked around town a lot, and visited Butchart Gardens again (see the post below). Sam's highlight was going whale watching. It isn't the season for seeing whales, but his group saw part of a pod of orca that hadn't been sighted for two months!

Back on the mainland we took a drive out to Fort Langley (about an hour east of where we live). This is the site of an early settlement, where the 'first nations inhabitants' traded furs, salmon and cranberries with the Hudson Bay Trading Company in the years before the Klondike gold rush. It is the place where British Columbia was declared to be a British colony in 1858. The displays in the fort buildings were very interesting and there was a carpenter on hand to explain coopering (making barrels).

Another day we visited the Museum of Anthropology (on the UBC campus). They have a huge collection of first nations artifacts, including some very impressive totem poles. Rather than have much of their collection hidden in storage, they have a large amount in "visual storage" so visitors can see most of the artifacts, even if they aren't labelled beyond a reference number. While they had a lot of masks and carvings from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia that were similar to the native art, there wasn't any reference to Maori art beyond a pipe and a tiki. That seemed surprising, given the similaritiy between the totems and canoes and Maori waka and marae carvings/posts.

We spent three days in Seattle last week. Our hostel was right opposite Pike Market, so we visited the first-ever Starbucks, found The Confectional (a cheesecake company started in Wellington - so we kiwis got a free cheesecake truffle each - divine!), and made multiple visits to The Crumpet Shop (our favourite was the scrumptious ricotta and orange marmalade crumpet, and the unlimited refills of tea). We also took the Underground Tour, a walking tour of the original level of city development, now at basement level. The footpaths in the 'current' city are built over this original level, creating a network of tunnels under the city. The history of the city was rather colourful too (e.g. the occupation of 80% of the female population in the early history of this logging, shipping, and gold-rush settlement were "seamstresses" - yeah right!) Sam also took a background tour of the Seattle library (the main reason for the trip) and went up the Seattle Space Needle. We also saw a very good movie, The Great Debaters, which is worth a look.

On our way back to Vancouver we visited the Boeing Factory in Everett. It is the largest building (by volume) in the world. At about a kilometre long, two-thirds of a kilometre wide, and a ceiling nine storeys above the floor it made a 747 look small! This was put into perspective when we stood next to the vertical tail fin about three storeys tall. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos in the actual factory because of commercial sensitivity so have a look at their website here.

The night we returned to Vancouver held some excitement. We were woken early in the morning (4.30am-ish) to the sound of breaking glass and sirens! The house next door (i.e. less than 2m from our wall) was ablaze, so we quickly dressed and prepared to evacuate. The five appliances had the fire under control promptly, and the building was concrete so we weren't in any real danger, though the flames and smoke were spectacular. Our neighbours were a little less lucky. The top of the house has been gutted, and the basement damaged by water. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but some shoes and warm clothes didn't go amiss! It was only about 9 months ago that their roof was damaged by the tree that fell in front of our property (see here).

The last few days back in Vancouver have seen us try to get back into some 'normal' routines as another busy term approaches. We are both taking three courses this term, as follows:

Nathan:
Christian Thought & Culture 2 (to follow CTC1 last term)
Introductory Greek 2 (to follow Greek from last term)
Biblical Exegesis (Biblical interpretation)

Bronwyn:
Christian Thought & Culture 2 (to follow CTC1 last term)
Christian Imagination (looking at Christian philosophy and the arts)
History of Christianity 2 (a requirement for her course, now that she has decided to go beyond the Diploma to complete her Master of Christian Studies - MCS)
She also is continuing her part-time job of catering assistant for various faculty functions during the term.

Finally, here are some photos of where we study: the Regent College building and the wind tower over the (underground) library. P.S. Yes, it is often this cloudy - just add rain for authenticity! Some friends call Vancouver "Brollywood" in reference to the film industry here, as well as the weather.

12 Days of Christmas

On our recent visit to Vancouver Island with Sam, one of our excursions was to Butchart Gardens. We have been there before in summer, when it was much more colourful (see here). At this time of the year there weren't many flowers and the main attraction appears to be the Christmas lights at night. We visited on our way to the ferry to go home, so we were a bit early for the lights, but we did have fun spotting the displays for the "12 Days of Christmas." See if you're not singing along by the time you get to the end of the gardens!

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

...a partridge in a pear tree
...two turtle doves
...three French hens
...four calling birds
...five golden rings
...six geese a-laying
...seven swans a-swimming
...eight maids a-milking
...nine ladies dancing

...ten lords a-leaping

Look out for the rogue 11th lord in the video here (click on slideshow)!

...eleven pipers piping

...twelve drummers drumming.

Did you know that this song originated as a catechism (an easily remembered statement of faith) during the Reformation? Read more about what each gift symbolised here.

What we've been up to...

This is probably our shortest blog post ever. Our friend Sam is staying with us, and because he's keeping family and friends in NZ informed about what he's been doing, you can also find out what we've been up to as well! We even get a rave review!!

http://samjmcguire.blogspot.com

From my prayer journal...

Despite the chaos of the last week (finishing assignments, and starting to prepare for finals, etc), there's so much I'm thankful to God for at this time... an amazing wife, wonderful friends, the privilege of studying at Regent College, and the list goes on. But what I'm most thankful for at the moment is a profound sense of the Holy Spirit's 'nearness'. Which is why I wrote the following late last week...

You are the One who comes to me
In the moments I least expect
In the middle of the night
During the chaos of the day
Surprising me both with the tenderness and the sternness of Your love
Your artistic hands moulding me
Scandalous as it is to say
Into someone beautiful
For Your pleasure
And the benefit of others
You have not finished with Your creation yet, O God
And I am thankful
May Your mercy soften me
And Your judgement shape me
You are the One who comes to me...