2012 reflections

Can't believe it's already New Year's Eve.  Where did 2012 go?  Actually, I've been asking that question a few times this year.  When we hit March, I thought, "How have we gone through 2 months already?"  Then At the end of summer..."What, seriously?  Didn't summer just start??"  And now it's the last day of the year and I feel like we should only be in March, maybe April...crazy how time flies...

I think it's an important exercise to take a look back at your year, and thank God for the blessings.  We used to do this at New Year's family gatherings and I thought it was corny when I was a kid.  I've since changed my tune.  If you don't look back at your blessings, you forget what God has done.  You're unappreciative.  AND you won't have enough faith the next time you hit a problem because you've forgotten what He's carried you through in the past.

If you've read my blog (or you can scroll down quickly if not), you'll clearly see the biggest part of my year - the birth of my first child.  I remember when my wife told me in March that she was pregnant.  She gave me an unexpected gift when she picked me up from work, a pair of Toronto Maple Leaf baby socks.  It took me a second to clue in.  At first I thought, oh that's cool.  And then the revelation hit - "Oh wait!  Does this mean that you're...???"  What a cool moment.

Then a few months later, it was a rough point...just a few days before we were going to tell our families that my wife was pregnant, my aunt (who was always more like a grandmother to me) passed away.  The first very close person to me that I've lost in my life.  Didn't get to tell her our exciting news.  It was hard.  Shock for the first few days, lots of tears during the funeral.

Over the next few months we went through the ups, downs, and excitements of pregnancy...until December 12th.  Leonidas Alexander Sanad Maassarany was born on 12/12/12.  Not enough good things to say about this.  If you are a parent, you know what I'm talking about.  Words aren't adequate, so I'll leave it up to you to remember what it was like when you had your first born.  If you're not there yet, just wait.

Leonidas is amazing.  I just wish my Aunt Sisa got a chance to meet him.  A few things over Christmas sparked memories of her, and it was bit emotional.  I'm sure she's looking down at her honourary 'grandson' and smiling.

Thanks 2012.

Welcome 2013.  Just please don't go so fast.

Leonidas, one week in

So I'm not going to be one of those people that starts posting about their kids every time, but this is still new for me so I think I'm allowed two posts in a row on this.  With that, allow me to share my new favourite picture:

He's so small!  He's like a little bean...  Favourite picture might be an exaggeration cause there are a lot of good ones, but I like this one a lot.

Anyway, just continuing to thank God for such a great blessing over Christmas.  And now that I'm a parent, and with it being so close to Christmas, I've tried to make myself think of what it was like for God to give up his son to die for us.  But I haven't thought about it...because I don't want to.  I guess that in itself is the first step to beginning to understanding it.

Maybe I'll try again...later.

Leonidas!

The big news in our lives, my wife gave birth to our first child!!  Leonidas Alexander Sanad Maassarany.  2:39am on Wednesday, which means his birthday is 12/12/12 - we like that a lot.  Hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm a father, and that this little one belongs to me - perhaps because I haven't really slept much the past three days - but I'm thrilled.  Thanking God for such a cool blessing.

As for the name, Leonidas was king of the Spartans in ancient Greece, and he led a few hundred men in holding off an entire Persian army for 3 days (see the movie 300).  Leonidas means lion/lion strength/son of the lion.  The next two names are grandfathers on each side.

Two hours after Leonidas was born:

My wife's favourite pic:

My favourite pic:

One more, just cause...

Get in shape!

Friday mornings I play sports with some guys and gals from the Canadian Forces recruitment centre in Barrie...and it's given me a new found respect for our armed forces.

The sport varies from week to week - basketball, european handball, today was floor hockey.  But no matter what sport it is, these guys are in ridiculous shape!  I'm no slouch, I'm an active guy - but I am put to shame every week.  It's non-stop running for 45 minutes to an hour, and while I'm sweating and out of breath halfway through, these super-humans are showing no signs of slowing down.  One guy is 20 years my senior and he's running circles around everyone - and he doesn't even take water breaks!  They are all very fit, and a few of them are absolutely ripped to boot.

Friday mornings have given me a new appreciation for the men and women who serve our country.  They are constantly in training, and as such are in peak physical condition.  They put their bodies through the paces so that they are always ready to be called on.  They inspire me to keep pushing, even when my body is tired or hurting.  I stopped for a bit during floor hockey today because my lungs felt like they were going to explode...but I wonder if I could have - and should have - kept going.  I bet they would have!  It's the old saying, "mind over matter."

And yes, it brings my faith in perspective too, that I should strive to be the best I can be (emphasis added):

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Last Movember Update...

I'm getting ready to say goodbye to Movember.  Bittersweet moment...sweet because the stache is awful, bitter because it's awfully awesome!  My wife, however, can't wait for Saturday when I shave it and begin the process of growing a full beard...she loves the beard but hates the stache, go figure.  I'll miss the stache a bit, but there will always be next year!

While the stache is admittedly ridiculous, it's all about the cause.  Glad I could help to raise a bit of money and awareness about prostate cancer and men's mental health.  You can still donate at http://mobro.co/timmaassarany

The everyday look:

The 'don't mess with me' look:

The "Seriously, don't mess with me!" look:

Not sure if I pulled those off, lol...

Movember continues

And the stache grows...

Last year I did the handle bars, but that's a bit of a cop-out for me because I think that looks better than the stache.  The handlebars could be mistaken for a gotee.  The stache stands out for what it is - grossness on my face.  But all for a good cause!

You can make a donation to prostate cancer research at http://mobro.co/timmaassarany

(This picture was taken yesterday)

And yes, the wife still hates it.

Hurricane Sandy

The past week I've been watching a lot on Hurricane Sandy.  It's been tragic to see the damage and destruction caused, and yet it's left me in awe.

It's funny how we think we have it all together.  We think we've come so far with our infrastructure, our technology, our weather-predicting systems, our safeguards, our advanced systems and thinking and buildings and procedures.  We have it all under control.

Then a hurricane hits.

Something WAY beyond our control, that no matter how much we've planned and prepared for, we have absolutely no chance against.  It takes us years, decades, to plan infrastructure and create streets and buildings and neighbourhoods and get everything just how we want it.  Then a hurricane/earthquake/ tsunami/tornado hits and those decades of hard work are washed away in seconds, and we realize how truly infinitesimal we really are.  And that while we delude ourselves into thinking we have an ounce of control over anything, the truth is that have absolutely none.

And then...think about it in the larger scale.  The amount of destruction that a hurricane does - and realizing that a hurricane covers maybe 1/10 of the earth's surface at a time, which means the earth is SO much larger.  And the earth is tiny compared to other planets.  And it's a dot in our solar system.  And it's a grain of sand in the milky way galaxy.  And it's a spec of dust (if even) when realizing that there are millions of galaxies, each with millions of stars and planets.

And the hurricane that caused all that damage is 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000...1% the size of our universe.

And we were blown away by the hurricane.  We are tiny.

Movember!!

And Movember begins!  I'm excited!  I always like change, so growing the beard for a while, then shaving it, and doing the same thing with my hair for that matter - it just shakes things up!  Growing the dirty stache for the month of November - visit my Movember page to support the cause!

http://mobro.co/timmaassarany

Change in routine...

Today is a bit of a different day for me.  It is the first workday in a year that I have not been on the air, doing a show.  For the past year I've been covering Jen Melanson's 1-4 show as she was on maternity leave. She's back, and today is her first shift. She's sounding really great, hasn't missed a beat!  Nice to have her back on the air.  She brings a new perspective and a familiar voice.  She's a veteran, and it shows.

But it's different for me because it's a change in routine.  Doing the same thing for a year and then suddenly changing it...it feels weird.  It's not a bad thing, just different.  The cool part is that I'll be able to dedicate more time and effort to other aspects of my job, and I'm excited about that. Advancing other parts of the radio station to keep improving how we sound, and how we minister to our listeners.

But thanks to those who have trekked along with me over the past year.  I've had a lot of regular callers and encouragement, and that's meant a lot to me.  It was a fun year, and I'll be back on the air every so often, so there will be lots of chances to keep connecting.

Thanks again, and feel free to leave me a tip on how you adjust to change.  God bless!

Is the Bible true?

A couple days ago, I posted a question on the LIFE facebook page - how do you know the Bible is real and/or true?  Generated some great discussion, although most of the answers were the same - "faith".

Faith is a great answer and is obviously one of the absolute cores of Christianity, but is there more?  What about physical proof?  I'll explain what I mean in my answers below.  Here's how I personally know the Bible to be true:

1) Common sense - the world around us is too perfect, the universe too incredible, the human body too complex for it all to be an accident. Science has been studying them for thousands of years and continues to do so , and with all the modern advances we have, we still don't know how the human body works (what makes the heart tick), how the universe started (the big bang is a theory), etc. And the more we discover, the larger and more complex we realize everything is.  And them more that comes to light, the more it seems to me that it can't be an accident - and that it's more proof that God exists.  (It's funny how science always changes too - one day this is 'the truth', the next day we've made a new discovery and it's actually 'this' instead...and tomorrow it will be something new.  The Bible doesn't change like that)

2) Faith - I know I was saying above that there could be more, but to be honest, this is the most crucial part of it.  No one can disprove your story. That's your PERSONAL experience of what God has done in your life, and that can't be argued. If God has changed your life, helped you to break a habit, done miracles in, through, and around you...then tell it!  People can't argue that God miraculously healed you, or brought you out of an addiction, or saved you from suicide.  Tell your story of God's work and touch on you. And live it, people will see the change.  "Your life is the only Bible some people will read."

And finally, but where I think we are lacking:

3) Research - I truly believe that as Christians we don't know enough about what proof exists TODAY of the Bible, myself included.  There are lots of great resources like Answers in Genesis, Creation.com, Louie Giglio (looks at creation and the universe), and Ravi Zacharius (he's apologetics, but good stuff!)  Archaeologists are constantly making discoveries that reaffirm the Bible.  And, the bible we have today is remarkably identical to what was written in the dead sea scrolls (found in 1947). 

*** One key note though - BE CAREFUL with research.  There will always be someone smarter than you who will win an argument.  And regarding the body of proof, not everything has been discovered.  I've been told that proof of King David wasn't found until 1993.  Does that mean he didn't exist before that proof was found?  Of course not.  But trying to argue based on evidence alone before the '93 discoveries would have been a lot more difficult.  Same deal today for things that have not been discovered yet.

In the end, I think all of these are crucial aspects to have.  They all complement each other.  And it's good to be well rounded, to be able to discuss on many different fronts instead of just one.  I write these things based on where I am, and I know I could be a lot more educated.  What about you?

People Are Awesome!

I've just found my new video series that I'm going to waste too much time watching on youtube, but it's amazing!  You've got to check out "People Are Awesome."  Amazing tricks, stunts, and feats from all sports.  Everything from basketball to biking, skiing, diving, parachuting, etc.

I like it for a bunch of reasons, first being because it's just really cool to watch.  It reminds of the amazing things that we as humans can do, that the human body is capable of.  But it also inspires me to get really good at something.  The incredible number of hours these people have to put into perfecting what they do has to be (almost) innumerable - we just see the final product and think 'wow', but there's so much that goes into making that happen.

It also inspires me to take risks.  The coolest things on these videos are the guys who take the biggest risks.  If we're too scared to do anything, we miss out on so much!  (By the way, that goes for both these fun/crazy types of activities, and for our walk with God - take steps of faith!)  You might read this part about taking risks and disagree, but - I must stress this again - keep in mind that each of these people probably only took these risk after countless hours of practice and training.

So I say, prepare properly and go for it!

Disclaimer - do not try anything you are not prepared/practiced/trained to do.  Be smart, don't get injured or worse, killed.  But if you are trained, practiced, ready, and know the risks, I say don't let the fear stop you - go for it!

The Pain of Change

I read a very interesting devotional by Joyce Meyer this morning.  She was talking about how God works in our lives, allowing difficult situations for spiritual growth and to bring about change.  But in that, she readily admits that spiritual growth can be difficult - not just for the time and effort you have to put in, but also for the tough situations you have to encounter and persevere through.

In making that point Joyce had this quote about her own personal resistance to change.  "Finally I realized that I was trying to avoid pain, but I had pain anyway.  The pain of staying the way we are is much worse than the pain of changing."

What a profound thought.  We so often resist change because it can be hard, because it hurts, and because, yeah, quite often, change sucks!  Or at least it feels that way.  But it comes down to a simple premise.  We know that God is good, right?  And we know that if He's trying to effect change in our lives, it's for a good purpose.  So are we really helping ourselves when we resist change?  When we won't give up a sinful habit, forgive the person who hurt us, be generous with our money, etc?  The answer is pretty obvious, Joyce Meyer nailed it.

So the simple question with the not-so-simple answer - what change is God trying to instil in your life?

Kayak!

So I am thrilled about my latest purchase...a kayak!!  Just bought it last week, but went out for a paddle a couple days ago and it was great!

Just to set the record straight, I'm not normally a purchaser of big-ticket items like this.  However, this was not a whim purchase, it's something I've wanted to do for a while.  I've been planning and saving since last year, testing out different kayaks and doing research to find the right one for me.  I'm so glad I put in the time because I found the perfect one!  (I was tempted to buy one last year without doing any research, and now I'm thrilled that I waited because while it was a good kayak, it wouldn't have been a good one for me).

Anyhow, as I mentioned I went out for a paddle this week.  There's something about being out on the water - away from the traffic and busyness, an escape even just for a couple of hours, where it's quiet and it's just you and nature - you and God.  A great chance to reconnect and admire God's creation.  That, and exercise are the two main reasons I bought a kayak, and I can't wait to use it a ton next summer!  I got it at a smokin' deal being the end of the season, but the only problem is that now I have to wait about 9 months before I can really use it. It's going to be torture every time I open my garage this winter!

In the end, two main points - enjoy God's creation however you do it, and never underestimate the value of taking the time to do your due research before making a big purchase.  It's worth it in the end.

Pedal-less bike?

So here's the latest invention - a bike without pedals or a seat...and I really like it.  At first I thought it was pretty ridiculous, but then I watched the video and I've been swayed.  It probably helps that I do this same thing on shopping carts by leaning over the handlebar, but you can't get good speed in grocery stores, and people get in the way in the aisles!  Frustrating...comon' people, make way!  ...I suppose this new bike is a better option.

It's a German invention called FLIZ bikes, and it's up for a prestigious James Dyson engineering award. What do you think?  You've gotta watch the video before you weigh in though, it might change your opinion!

...on a side note, admittedly there is a wedgie concern...but I'm sure there has to be a solution of some sort...  :)

Summer

Friday, August 3rd, just past the halfway mark of the summer, how's yours been?

I was just telling my wife the other day that I feel super blessed about how this summer has gone.  I LOVE sports, I LOVE being active.  If I could play sports or do something active everyday, I'd be living the dream.  Most of my summer's don't shape up that way because it can be expensive to join leagues, or it's tough to find someone to do something with because everyone's so busy.

But this summer has been different, and I've loved it.  I've played in a soccer league on Friday nights for the past few years, so I continued that this year.  But new this summer is that I've joined the Barrie Canoe and Kayak Club, and I've been out on the water 1-2 times a week, canoeing, kayaking, and SUP'ing.  Also, a friend and I have settled on 'Tuesday Night Tennis', and we're sometimes lucky enough to play a couple of times a week.  And finally, I've been able to golf a few more times this year than normal.

I'm definitely not meaning to brag, apologies if it comes across that way.  (Side note - that's what drives me crazy about facebook or blogging sometimes, is that it makes it seem like someone's life is perfect.  It's far from that, and of course that is completely not my intention!)  But I am definitely thanking God for the active summer it's been.  Between the four activities, this has been one of the most active - and hence, most enjoyable - summer's I've had in a long time!  Hope yours is going well too!

Spiderman!

I'm not one of those guys who likes really sappy stories, they usually make me kind of sick.  But this story is too good - window washers at a children's hospital dressing up like Spiderman!  What a great idea, awesome way to make kids smile!  There is still good in this often difficult world.

http://furiousfanboys.com/2012/07/spider-man-window-cleaners-do-it-for-sick-children/


(On a side note, sappy and emotional are two different things, lol...while I may not be sappy, I do have to fight back the waterworks sometimes for an uplifting story, or when passion is involved!)

Freedom

Before he preached his sermon on Sunday, our pastor said that that morning's message would be a tough one.  He repeated that during and after the message too...and he was right.

He gave a powerful reminder on repentance and forgiveness.  He talked about Psalm 51, the psalm David wrote after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah.

There were two parts that hit me.  The first was verses 16 and 17 - You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.

After reading these verses the pastor then referenced more verses in Isaiah, all saying that God does not want our sacrifices if our hearts are not right.  We can do all the right things, say all the right words, act so nicely, and fool everyone - but not God.  All of our greatest efforts - playing on the worship team, serving in Sunday School, helping your neighbour, volunteering at the food bank - it's all great stuff, but if we're not right with God, it's not worth much.  God is more concerned about where our hearts are than about what we're doing.  In fact, what we're doing should come out of where are hearts are.  Doing it the other way around usually means we're trying to earn it.

The other big thing that hit me was the idea of freedom.  How much this applies to you may depend on how honest you want to be with yourself - the fact that we get so caught up in sin sometimes that we don't realize how much it has taken over our lives.  It becomes part of our daily routine, and we either get used to it or we get more and more depressed because we don't know how to get out of it - or, in a frustrating paradox, both of those happen at once.  Either way, it's a horrible state because deep down, we are not truly happy.  We're hurting.

But then the pastor showed the video I've linked to below, and brought it home.  And he quoted Galatians 5:1, and I truly grasped the meaning of that verse like I've never really understood it in the past - "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

Watch the video:
http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/31742/Free

So what do you need freedom from?  God wants to help.

Languages

How many languages do you speak?

I've been able to do some travelling in my years, a bit through the Middle East, Europe, and some of the Caribbean.  It always amazes me when someone speaks to me in english, then that same person turns and speaks to someone else in french, then moves on to a conversation in spanish, and rounds it off with some italian.  So cool!

Personally, I speak english (obviously, lol), some french, and arabic as my parents are Egyptian.  I've always loved languages and think it's really neat to be able to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your native tongue.  There are several advantages of course:

1 - Travel is much easier
2 - Ministry is much easier, both for missionaries and for those who are not - conversations can be had
3 - The number of jobs available to the bilingual is crazy, both locally and abroad
4 - It's great to learn new things!

I didn't realize that I like languages until mid-university.  A little late by that point, but not too late.  I took a sign language course and a few french courses.  That was years ago and if you don't practice, you lose it.  My knowledge of sign language is gone unfortunately except for a few words here and there.  As for french, I actually became quiet proficient, but not having spoken it regularly for a few years, it's definitely not where it once was.  However, I'm pleased that I was able to carry on a conversation in french last week when my wife and I were away on vacation - not as fluent as I would have liked it to have been, but we understood each other!

My goal a few years ago was to perfect french and then move on to spanish.  But since then, life got in the way and it's the age old excuse - I got busy and there was no time (or money) to learn.

Last week's travels have inspired me though.  It's never too late, right?  I'm tackling french first.

Cool!

U of T Chancellor David Peterson is retiring.  Here's what they did for him (what a nice send off!):

http://www.thestar.com/videozone/1215393--retiring-u-of-t-chancellor-gets-convocation-send-off

Barrie residents, we've got a good mayor.  Christians, we need to feel blessed.  Here's why.

A few night ago, Mayor Jeff Lehman held an evening called Focus on Faith, to discuss matters related to faith in the community.  Faith leaders across the city were invited and about 30-people showed up, many of them pastors.  I was honoured to be one of the invited.

Mayor Lehman started off by speaking for about 20 minutes, then sat down on the hot seat and invited questions.  There are a number of amazing things about what happened that night.  I'll list a few.

1) Most obvious is the fact that the mayor initiated this night.  In a day and age when faith is being pushed out of every aspect of our lives, where science is 'truth' and people of faith are actually disillusioned (according to the world), the fact that we have a mayor that requested to meet with the faith community is something that must be recognized.

2) Equally impressive in my books is the fact that the Mayor went ahead with the meeting, despite coming up against some opposition.  Some thought the meeting wasn't a good idea.  Pushing the separation of church and state (which I am undecided on to be honest, but that's a discussion for another time), they lobbied the mayor not to have the meeting.  He had it anyway.

3) Not many people would put themselves on the hot seat and welcome questions - and possibly criticism.  The evening was tame and all were well behaved of course, and it was mostly informational - asking what the city was doing about affordable housing, or parking, or churches in industrial lands, etc...  There were not many difficult questions, but the mayor did not shy away from any of them, and was willing to answer anything anyone threw his way.

4) Mayor Lehman started the hot seat session by asking, "What are your churches saying to you?  What is your congregation saying?  What do they want from the city?"  The mayor WANTS to hear from us!

I bring it back to this key point - in this day and age when faith is considered non-essential and even silly, a mayor that wants to hear from (and work with) the faith community is worth more than its weight in gold.

I only had one issue with the whole evening, and it was a big one - that it took us over an hour to ask the question, "Mayor, how can we, the churches, serve the city?"

Oh how we take it for granted...

The world's population is 7 billion people.  It's astonishing to think that 1/7 of those, 1 billion people, don't have access to clean water.

I was at the Water Ambassador's Training Camp at Springvale Baptist Church in Stouffville on Saturday. Let me start by saying I am a very environmentally friendly person, and I try not to waste anything (ask my wife!).  But I was still blown away by some of the things I learned.

Over 30,000 people die every day from water-borne illnesses, which essentially means because they don't have access to clean water.  To put that in perspective, the population of Owen Sound is 21,000.  A group of people the size of Owen Sound - and then some - dies everyday.  Every four days, nearly the population of Barrie is wiped out.  Every three months the population of Toronto dies.  That brings it into perspective, but it's still quite unimaginable.

And even more unimaginable still - how simple the cure is.  Most of us know about drilling wells.  That's a huge source of help to thousands.  But more than just that, there's water purification systems.  A lot of villages have access to water such as a river, but it's not clean.  The solution is simple - a couple of large jugs, a battery, and table salt connected by a few tubes, and you have clean water.  Make it a solar power battery and the contraption can last forever.

In a day and age when all we have to do is turn on the tap and the water will run all day and all night if we let it, we must remember how blessed we are.  While you and I are at work, studying, playing, etc, 1 billion people across the globe don't get to do that because their days consist of hiking miles upon miles to get water - and quite often, dirty water.

Learn more.  It's a crucial cause.  Water Ambassadors Canada does about 20 missions trips a year to dig wells or install water purification systems.  Or they can train you to do your own mission trip with your church.  waterambassadorscanada.org.

Nature! In the form of Venus' transit this week

So being a nature guy, I had to post on the incredible phenomenon that happened this week - the transit of Venus across the sun.  Which basically means that Venus travelled between earth and the sun.

It happens twice every 110 years or so, and those two times are eight years apart.  So the last time was in 2004, then this past Tuesday, and now not again until 2117.

If you didn't know it was happening you would not have noticed a difference...actually, even if you did know it was happening you wouldn't have noticed anything.  You couldn't look up at the sun and see it, not even with sunglasses, because the sun is way too powerful and Venus is tiny compared to the sun.

But if you were able to go to an astronomy lab, or had a welder's mask or a properly filtered telescope, here's what you saw - a small, dark spot, travelling across the top portion of the sun.

NASA has created a video of it, showing it through several different types of filtration.  There are two things I think are really cool about this video:

1) The immense size of the sun!  The sun is 150 million kilometres away from the earth.  The distance between Venus and Earth rotates significantly because of Venus' orbit path, but in the case of this transit Venus is obviously between the earth and the sun, meaning it's a whole lot closer to us than the sun is.  And yet, Venus appears as a small circle against the backdrop of a huge, shining star.  It's amazing!

2) All the different views of the sun provided through NASA's filtration give an amazing picture of the sun.  All we normally see on a day to day basis is an orange ball, and we even that we can't really see all that well because it's so bright.  But the images in the video below show incredible detail to the sun that we would never be able to see otherwise.

Enjoy God's creation!

Video!

Taking some inspiration from Junky Rhodes, I've decided to post a hilarious video that I've found on Youtube.  This one had me laughing for a while.  But you're only allowed to watch the one video and that it's back to work!  (Youtube can be so addictive...)

Mother's Day

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

The reason this is belated is because I was just having so much fun with my mother yesterday that I couldn't get to a computer.

Okay, bit of a fib...but I really did have a great time with my mother yesterday.  We don't live in the same city, so it was so nice to visit together and celebrate - her!  Mother's Day is a fantastic opportunity to reflect on what our mother's do for us, how hard they work, and the blessing that they are.  My mom is an inspiration.  That sounds sappy, but hear me out.

She never had great jobs, but always went to them diligently, without complaining, and did a great job.  She has had some health struggles, and yet if you met her on the street you'd never know.  In fact, if you knew her really well you still might not know, because she doesn't talk or complain about it.  She carries on with daily life, with doing everything that needs to get done, with putting family first.  She's a trooper.  And her faith is unshakeable.

So I say again, she's an inspiration.  I'm blessed to have the mother that I do.

To all the mother's, Happy (belated) Mother's Day.  To all those who can relate to what I've written above, consider yourselves blessed.

RVH Phase 1 Expansion - Media Tour

The grand opening for the new Phase 1 Expansion project for Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, or RVH,  is happening Thursday, May 17th.  But today I got to go on a media tour of the new facility, which essentially doubles the size of the existing hospital.  I have to say, it's quite an impressive building!  State-of-the-art technology, spacious, warm and a nice ambiance for those who have to visit - and terrific care and accommodations, particularly in the new Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre.

A few specs:
- Emergency department triples in size
- $70 million in new equipment
- Two new operating suites
- 700 new jobs
- 34 chemotherapy treatment suites overlooking gardens and a lake, and each with their own patient entertainment system

And this expansion project is just phase 1 of 6 parts!  Excited to see what else is in the plans!  Pictures don't do it justice, you've got to check it out at the grand opening May 17th if you can, but here are some shots to give you a preview.

Main entrance and lobby 

Patient care area, front desk

Private Room in the cancer centre (complete with a bench that turns into a cot for a family member who needs to stay overnight with a loved one)

Double room in the cancer centre, with the entertainment units visible

Cool lighting in one of the staircases!  (view from above)

Same lighting, but view from underneath

One of the hallways in the new cancer centre (RVH President and CEO Janice Skot is in the grey top and pink skirt)

These paintings of leaves decorate parts of the floor throughout the new expansion

One of three new radiation bunkers for cancer treatments

David Beckham

So I got the chance to hit the Rogers Centre yesterday for the TFC game - Toronto FC vs the L.A. Galaxy.  I'm a soccer fan and I've been to a few TFC games before so I was just excited for the game itself...but then of course, this was the big one - David Beckham in town.

Seeing the Rogers Centre (I'll always know it as the skydome, btw!) sold out was awesome!  That only happens for Jays home openers now.  But the difference was the energy.  I've been to Jays home openers, and while it's cool that there are so many people, it can still be moderately quiet when not much is happening.  Last night however, was completely different...  There was a buzz the entire night.  The crowd was cheering, booing, engaged and entertained all night. The energy and atmosphere was like very few games I've been to in the past in any sport.  Oh, and the dozen or so paper airplanes that were thrown from the 500 level and that floated for about a minute before landing on the field...immature I know...but really quite amusing.  The crowd went crazy for every one of them.  I may have cheered along.

David Beckham was of course the target, a relentless crowd not letting up the entire game.  And in my opinion, he rose to the occasion.  Some may say that Beckham has lost his touch.  I beg to differ.  While he may not be the player he once was, it was clearly evident that he is still great.  Every pass, every corner kick, dead on target.  Very cool to see him - quite literally - curve the ball, live.  He kept his composure despite 47,000 crazy (and usually booing) fans, streamers being thrown at him, even a beer can.  (The beer can was not cool - there's cheering/booing and being a fan, and then there's disprect.  Know the line people!)

Overall, one of the most electric environments I have ever watched any game in.  The constant energy the whole night, the engaged crowd, the teams rising to the occasion and delivering a very entertaining game, and seeing one of the greast players ever to hit the pitch...the 47,000 in attendance were treated to a special occurance yesterday.

I wish I took more pictures, but I was too engaged in the game!  Here's a couple:

 

Help!

I need your help!  I just recently got a smartphone (Samsung), exactly one week ago actually...as Steve Jones told me, "Welcome to 2005".  So I'm behind the times.

But I'm not a technologically savy kind of guy.  I have no idea what apps to download.  And when I do know what app I want, there are so many options.  I looked up 'Bible' to have the Bible on my phone - I got 3,767 results!  How do you know which one to choose??

So seriously, please help me out, what are the best apps out there?  What apps should I download?  It can be anything - games, helpful apps, organizational apps, tip calculators, history or french lessons, silly apps...whatever!

Let me know!  Thanks!

Where's the time?

It's crazy how busy life gets, isn't it?  Work, school, volunteering, church activities, sports, driving the kids around, meetings, cooking, cleaning, spending time with friends and family, homework/helping the kids with homework, chores, errands...just to name a few.  And when we finally DO have a minute to stop, either we're so tired we don't want to do anything, or we feel like we're wasting time because we're used to being so busy.

Sound familiar?

So how in the midst of all that, are we supposed to fit in spending time with God?  It's like we're already stretched to the max with the busyness of everyday life, there just does not seem to be 10 minutes anywhere to do our devotions...except maybe when we're laying in bed at night, just barely keeping our eyes open as we're reading the bible or praying; that, or we're thinking of all the things we have to do tomorrow.  Well no biggie, God understands, right?

No, the plain truth is - it IS a biggie.  I've been learning this a lot so far in 2012.  Just to set the record straight, this is not meant as a preachy thing.  It's more of "this is what Tim Maassarany is learning, and I hope it helps you too."  Why do you think I can list all those things above?  Cause busyness is usually my biggest excuse too.  Yes, even we Christian radio DJ's can struggle with a daily quiet time sometimes.

A few weeks ago at a Superbowl party I got into a discussion about this with a friend, and he completely challenged me.  He came straight out and said it - "Tim if you're not spending time with God everyday - even just 10-minutes each day for the most important thing in your life - then you need to go back to high school; go back to youth group."  He hit me square in the face with that one.  He's right, that's the stuff that was pounded into me in youth group, the importance of spending time daily with God.  That's the foundation.  Now that I'm an adult, that should be a well established practice.  He was basically telling me to grow up and stop making excuses.

Then yesterday Charles Stanley (on LIFE at 12:30) was talking about the same thing.  He said when we become too busy - or THINK we are too busy - to spend time with God, we're falling right into Satan's trap of lies, deception, and distraction.  He said Satan is always trying to distract us from God, and what better way than busyness?

Both of these hit me big time.  In 2012, I've really been making a more concerted effort to be consistent with this.  Mike at the superbowl party nailed it - no more excuses.  It's time to get serious about the most important thing in our lives.  We can't do that if we don't spend enough time with God to really get to know Him.

Busyness is the worst excuse of all, and yet so many of us use that one.  Enough's enough.  If Christ is what my life is all about, then I'm going to get serious.  And not later.  NOW.

You with me?

Valentine's and Family Day...and February!

Man, February is a crazy month for myself and my family.  I'll explain why in a just a minute, but first, I said I'd post about the 'rockstar' gift I got for my wife on Valentine's Day...the answer?  A haircut!  You're probably thinking...what?  But see, my wife is amazing.  She got bangs for the first time last year and really loved them.  I also liked them, but personally I liked her hair longer.  So she's been growing her hair out for me over the past year, even though she's really wanted bangs.  That was sooooo sweet of her, so I got her gift certificate for a haircut for Valentines.

Now, as to the craziness of February for my family...there's valentine's day and family day.  As for birthday's, my dad's is February 3rd, my uncle's the 15th, my cousin's husband the 18th, and mine is the 19th (yesterday!).  OH, and my parents anniversary is the 18th...  yeah, December and February are the more expensive months for our family, lol.

But I had a great 30th birthday yesterday, celebrating with friends and family, and of course my awesome wife.  After the fun weekend, I stopped and reflected this morning on all the good things God has given as blessings.  Made me so thankful.  Life can be tough.  There are so many difficulties along the way sometimes, unexpected troubles come up.  But when we remember that we have a God that really cares, and that blesses us along the way, that really helps.  I enjoyed some good reflection this weekend.

Valentine's Day!

So I got my wife a rockstar gift...but I can't tell you want it is because I haven't given it to her yet.  In fact she doesn't even know I got her a gift.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Check back tomorrow and I'll let you know what it is.  You may not think it's amazing, but I know she'll love it!

But on a larger scale...what do you think of Valentine's Day?  Being a history buff, I like to look into the origins of things, to see why we celebrate what we do.  However, it appears that Valentine's Day is the one day (the only one?  I'm not sure) whose origins no one actually knows for sure.  Here's a brief history lesson.

For us Christians, the most honourable Valentine's Day origin - and actually the one that appears to be the most common in general - is St. Valentine, a Christian who was put to death for refusing to deny his faith.  How that actually relates to Valentine's Day is unclear.  There are also claims that Valentine's started as a Roman celebration called 'Lupercalia,' and it was Pope Gelasius in 496AD who switched Lupercalia into Valentine's Day to celebrate St. Valentine.  Finally, apparantly the Catholic Encyclopedia says there were actually three saints named Valentine, who were all martyred on February 14th.

Whatever the origins are, Valentine's Day has morphed into the commercialized dealio it is today.  Some love it, some can't stand it.  But if we can get past that, I think at the root of it is something beautiful - showing the one you love just how much you love them.

Now all that being said - if you celebrate Singles Awareness Day, then Happy Singles Awareness Day to you!

Complacency

Are we completely missing it?

Have we missed what this life is all about?  I'm being so convicted of this lately.  That we as Christians in the west have become so complacent.  Our lives have become about ourselves.  We work to make sure that we are comfortable, we have good jobs, that we're paying off our mortgages, saving for retirement, etc...  Oh, and yes, God is sprinkled in there.  He's in everything, yes, but remember God, we have to be comfortable.

Perhaps a good way of breaking this down is by asking a simple question - when we pray, are we praying for the things on our hearts, or the things on God's heart?  Those can be radically different.

Christianity was never about our comfort.  God never promised that our lives would be easy and nice.  If anything he said we'd be persecuted for our faith, ridiculed and outcast, beaten and humiliated.  Want an example?  Read the Bible, starting with Jesus' crucifixion.

I have to admit, the more I think about this, the more it's driving me crazy.  We've made it all about us!  It's not even that we can't let go of our comforts (although that is very true).  What's more concerning is that we don't even think about letting go of our comforts, and doing that crazy thing that God is asking us to do.  That that thought never crosses our minds is alarming, and more proof that we've missed the point of it all.

This life I have, I have because God gave it to me.  My family, the money in my bank account, my house, my car, my job - none of it is mine.  So why am I holding on to it so tightly, and missing the bigger picture that God has?

This a plea to you as much as it is to myself - let's stop living lives of complacency.  We are called to more.  Our faith does not revolve around our lives.  Our lives revolve around our faith.  Let's live that way, and live out TRUE Christianity.

Courageous

I know this is super late, but let me start by thanking the person who pushed me over the top in Movember, and helped be beat AJ the Wonderdog - you know you who are!  Thanks!

So I saw the movie Courageous at Bradford Alliance Church yesterday, second time I've seen this flick...  If you haven't see it, I definitely recommend you check it out.  As you probably know by now, it's a movie that has a great message for guys, and particularly for fathers.

But more than just that, I think TODAY, in our day and age, it is especially applicable.  For the past few years I have been of the view that men have lost their place in society.  That men are often looked down on and can be regarded as - for lack of better words - incompetent and even dumb.  Don't believe me?  Check out almost any commercial on TV, or the father figure in TV shows.  Most of them look pretty bad.

So at a time like this, perhaps a movie like Courageous is even that much more important - to help men find their place again.  Biblically speaking, that's at the head of the family, being a man of integrity, and leading his wife and kids in the way God has outlined.

I was inspired.  I hope you are too.  Let's be those men.