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?"