real steps

5 current faux pas of Facebook behaviour

2010-03-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

1) ... is tired or ... is busy
2) ... makes bland comment on the weather
(except of course "It's SNOWING" - props to Calvin and Hobbes)
3) ... changes profile pic/status to the "fad of the week" (e.g. lookalikes or urban dictionary) and then leaves it there for WAY more than that week
4) scribbles "happy birthday" on a wall without ANY personalisation or creativity.
(capital letters or !'s do not count as creativity)
5) ... you gotta see this bit.ly or tiny.url, it's cool/funny/great, without ANY explanation of what disaster could be behind this anonymous link

Also it is probably not considered appropriate to complain about other people's status in a note .. oops .. sorry

define: faux pas

a quest to find my cardboard tube and soft yellow ball

2010-02-26T15:49:00.000-08:00

I was struck by a moment this afternoon.

Here am I checking email, facebook and working away on my laptop screen and large monitor at the same time. There is Liz in the kitchen eyes glued to her laptop, sorting out our large library of photos. There is Joel, perfecting tricks on his latest XBox favourite: Tony Hawk's Project 8.

And then there is Ollie. He has a cardboard poster tube, and he's balancing it, and shooting a small soft yellow ball down it, and giggling, and shouting down it. Guess what .. right now .. he is having the most fun out of any of us in the household.

My last blog post (such a long time ago!) spoke about one negative result of technology: busy-ness. This family scene helped me recognize another: joy in simplicity. As you know, I am certainly not on a mission to stop us all using technology, I love what it gives us, and am constantly in awe of the connection I can have with the world through its use (now as I blog for example!). I love the learning, the fun, the creativity, the efficiency, the wonder, the ridiculous amount of things I can do with my iPod touch. I've been *enjoying* using computers ever since they first emerged from laboratories. However, let us not forget the simple stuff, and the fun we can have away from the technology. We have a phrase in our household: "screen time". We often challenge each other to find good activities that do not involve a screen, and I think we're pretty good at it e.g. remember this from Oct 2006.

I hope and pray that we all hold on to the simple things in life that are enjoyable. I don't know what the metaphorical "tube and ball" is in your life, but let me encourage you this weekend to unplug for a while, and find something truly enjoyable that involves no technology at all.

.. and no .. there is NOT an app for that.

Letter to a teenager

2009-09-22T22:23:00.005-07:00

On behalf of all the adults around you I would like to say we're sorry. It used to be that you would hear us greet each other with a friendly "hi, how are you?" and you'd hear the response "fine". Yeah, I know, bland and meaningless, but positive and polite. These days you are more likely to hear us inhale deeply, sigh, and use an alternative single word: "tired" or "busy". I notice that you have begun to copy our foolish ways and adopt these responses as your standard too.

You see 30 years ago, some brilliant minds invented computers and held out a promise to us that life would become full of glorious pursuits like hiking, playing music, sailing, skiing, that the computers would take the stress out of our lives, do half our work for us, and vastly increase our quality of life. But just as 150 years ago we managed to lose that ideal in the industrial revolution, so we have failed again. Instead of increasing our quality of life we have managed to cram more and more work into each individual's schedule, have become blackberryiphoned during dinner, walks on the beach and family time. We have built the most impressive individualist empires, have squeezed two or three jobs' worth of work into each person's role, and have almost entirely forgotten how to relax. It simply isn't good enough and we're sorry.

You do not need to be "tired" and "busy" to be valid.

Please help us to encourage you to live lives of balance. Work hard and work well, be dedicated and purpose-filled. Have fun. Exercise. Cut down on your screen time, do not feel the need to be on-line 20 hours a day, do not over-program your life. Be a good friend to those around you. And resist, like I do, the temptation to answer the question "how are you?" with "tired" or "busy".

the need for urban retreat

2009-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Last week was tough. September is always insane, and this year I thought I was more ready than usual for the onslaught. Apparently not.

School term shifts dynamics for everyone, even if your only experience is a lengthened commute, life is different. This of course is the real new year for anyone in the northern hemisphere of the developed world, Jan doesn't count. As a youthworker with kids, I get double impact, along with teachers and anyone else that works with school terms. Holiday vibe ends and every project that took back seat rushes forward, every meeting that hasn't quite taken place becomes urgent, every event that needs to be organized is suddenly behind schedule, and every young person in the world is plunged into school mode which rocks them and their parents for at least a couple of weeks, until the new rhythm is found.

We had the added dynamic of Joel starting elementary school and Ollie starting preschool which has had a bigger emotional toll than we expected. Last week the reponsibility of these dynamics overwhelmed me and quite simply put me into meltdown: I wanted to run away. Andy suggested a day of retreat away from it all to hang out with God, get some good perspective and input. As I thought about this and looked at the calendar I realized I had the perfect opportunity to head not out of town, but into it: to head downtown and simply be. I type this in a coffee shop in the centre of this most wonderful of cities; I come here to breathe, to watch, to listen, to allow God to speak into my life, to encourage and envision me, and to dwell.

I know we're all wired differently: some of you totally understand this and some can think of nothing worse. Mother Theresa said "We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence." She was and is one of the most inspirational people on the planet, but on that one we disagree. God for sure is the friend of silence, and Elijah had an amazing "still small voice" moment, but is God really restricted to that?

I love Vancouver deeply, I am so glad and privileged to call this city home, and as I 'randomly' run into the mom of one of the youth I baptized a few weeks ago, as I watch the beautiful young adults of the city cruise around so full of stuff (and yet so devoid of real life), as I listen in on some bizarre conversations around me in the coffee shop, I am spoken to by God, I am recharged and refreshed, envisioned. It's going to be OK.

I know that soon we will all settle down and see September in a better light: it's about more than survival, it's about life in all it's fullness. Some wise guy said it right once in John 10:10, and I'm looking forward to regaining some amazing life, to surf the wave rather than get dragged into the white water.

Back Lane Battleships (TM)

2009-09-06T19:49:00.003-07:00

Today, it rained rather well, Vancouver style, in fact it still is. Joel and I have times when we enjoy the rain. If you've been around this blog for a while, you may remember "Rain never stops play". Well today we invented a brand new 'back lane rain game', to allow mom a little space to exist indoors without us throwing things at her and Ollie.

First we each select a sea (puddle) at least 10ft apart in the back lane. Into our sea we place our battleship (6-8" long, plastic boat, yellow in colour for good visibility). We each stand at least 1 foot behind our sea. The game is to kick a football (full size, English) at each other's boat. One hit=1 point.

Joel won, straight sets, 10-6, 5-2

5 things for which I am an evangelist

2009-09-04T08:54:00.002-07:00

evangelist - "bringer of good news"

If you find yourself in meaningful conversation with me anywhere, you are likely to hear me talk about one or many of these things. These are my top five areas of evangelism, and I see them all as truly good news!

Jesus

There's a good book you should read about this one, I'll happily introduce you to it. There's also a massive population of people involved in the Jesus story, you should chat to them about their stories. Most of all, Jesus is alive and well and would love a chat. If you're reading this and feeling like he's a bit of a stranger, have a chat, you might get a nice surprise.

Youthwork

It's my job and my life, but also a passion. I've been working with teenagers ever since I was one. I love the culture, the language, the zeal for life, the challenges, the potential in each person, the foundational impact we can have on some amazing lives as we live alongside them.

Getting Things Done

www.davidco.com

This is a difficult one to encapsulate in a short blog post. Imagine a life where you have captured every thought or idea or thing you want to achieve. You organise them, feel like there is way too much to do and you are just way too busy.

OK that was easy to imagine.

Now imagine that at any point in the day you are doing exactly the right thing in that moment, and you know that everything else is just waiting for it's moment to be done or given away, or simply deleted because it really wasn't so important after all. Imagine any interruption to your life, no matter how much of a crisis, does NOT throw you into chaos. Everything can work out OK. And imagine you are able to be WAY more creative, because you're not sinking under piles of TODO lists. Your filing systems and inboxes actually work, your life is not a mess, and you spend almost all your time doing the things you actually want to do.

If you nail the GTD process (Getting Things Done), this is you. It's even quite fun to start and develop!

Apple

www.apple.com

Switching to macbook was a very very very good decision. I love iPods. I love everything apple I touch (hehe). As you know, anyone who is in apple world tends to be an applevangelist. There is a reason for this people!

Google

www.google.ca

Almost every aspect of Google that develops (or is bought out by them!) gets me excited. With one major exception. Google apps, email, docs, calendars, blogger, picasa, youtube. It's a bit worrying that they are getting so into world domination, as competition keeps us all sharp. But, currently, love 'em, they're doing an awesome job.

PS the only truly perfect item on this list is Jesus, the others all have their issues! GTD probably comes a close second on the perfect scale ;)

No doubt some of you will aggressively disagree with my choices, or wonder at the inclusion or exclusion of various items. Feel welcome to comment! I can honestly say that I love each of these things very much, and when you hear me talk about them, it's from that love and passion, not from any sense of obligation, guilt or financial gain. So there you have it.

on finding space

2009-09-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

Dad: "so what were you planning to do after zooming cars in the kitchen?"
Joel: "I was wondering if you and me could do some playing together"
Joel: "I thought it would be good if we played in my bedroom, because there's space to walk in between stuff"

Dad tries to think calm thoughts as he gazes at the playroom floor and understands Joel's quite insightful and logical proposal.

a few Anvil 9 09 reflections

2009-08-29T21:30:00.003-07:00

This morning we took the 2hr boat ride back from Anvil camp 9 09. I had an amazing week being the speaker, in amongst a fantastic crowd of people. Here I try and capture a few reflections on the camp one line at a time.

on chapel:
- Jesus encounters
- freedom
- the curtain has been torn DOWN
- you make all things work together for my good
- God desires partnership: it's not all him, and it's not all us
- you give and take away
- from the inside out

on island life:
- wakeboarding in the only rain of the week at 7am on a deserted sea
- crazy connections across the christian subculture
- food, glorious food
- two peace-filled kayak moments
- an intense hike to the legendary white spot
- obsession with rope swing tricks

on anvil classics:
- the next bell will be ...
- SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE SLIDE

on laughter:
- brought to you by: brent kostner, jamilla springs and the incredible betty wordsworth
- the bizarre entertainment of anvil island squares
- horse riding and awkward hugs

on God's creation:
- gazing up into an endless sky of stars
- views of the ocean, playing with the seals
- deers at arms length eating apples
- the most incredible camp finale ever

on praise:
- 9 people met Jesus for the first time, 20ish re-committed their lives, and 9 were baptised

- Anvil Rocks

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-25T21:23:00.002-08:00

awoken (7.15)
stockings
yule log alight
mary and joseph made it to the stable after a long trek
Jesus joins them in the stable by the tree

first cup of tea
presents by the fire (toys, toys, toys)
snacks
toboggan adventure at the park

second cup of tea
snow shovelling in preparation for the big trip for dinner (a whole 20 blocks!)

pics from tom's album: Christmas 2008

snacks
play with toys, open more presents
drive towards ian, tracy and judah's house
car stuck with spinning wheels
car rescued by skillful driving and passing help

boys play, good friends good times - ian, tracy, tim, lissa, tom, liz, erin
much dinner with "two kinds of meat"
plum pudding by tim
drive home with only some skidding
car now immobile until thaw!
igloo roof collapsed

third cup of tea
carols from kings
the queen's christmas message

what a wonderfully happy christmas day
we hope and pray you had a great one

congratulations to henry and diane stevens on their little unnamed baby girl born today. top that as a christmas gift.

what's the difference between a small child and a large corporation?

2008-12-08T12:47:00.004-08:00

On the face of it, small children and large corporations are opposites in today's world. One is defined by innocence, curiosity, vulnerability, a small voice in a complicated world. The other is a man-made giant machine that tries to define itself by good values of "customer service", "global improvement", "choice" .. but despite good intentions is always driven by an unhealthy worship of money, and is anything but a quiet voice.

I have spent time in my life working for small children and working for large corporations. I believe in and support each of them, but am often at the mercy of both.

How is is that both small children and large corporations have an equal and well-developed ability to make my blood boil with anger? This morning I exploded into shouting and rather ungodly language thanks to the efforts of each.

Peace, joy and goodwill to all men ...

... forgive me.

nice like batman ..

2008-10-18T20:45:00.001-07:00

It was a difficult evening, and important that Joel and I prayed together as he lay down to go to sleep. Here was his prayer, which brought me to tears.

Dear God, please help Dad and me to be nice to each other, so that everyone else can be nice to each other too, like Batman and Spiderman. Amen.

Kinda cute, kinda funny, and as you can tell, born out of some "not being very nice to each other". But I love the stuff that God smiles at in this. If we live well together, including having a good time of restoration of our relationship before we sleep, and "not letting the sun go down on our anger", and if other people see us living well together, then they will live well together too.

Joel will soon be 4, and I continue to pray that he and I will be "good news" alongside each other, and keep exercising that rather important "good news" practice of loving our neighbour. I pray that others will see it, and wonder at it, and want to follow our example as we follow someone else's example: Batman, Spiderman .. or perhaps Jesus'.

my best facebook moment ever

2008-09-11T14:41:00.003-07:00

On Monday, I read the status of our friend Sally who is a cool chick that works all over the world helping desperate people out in disaster areas with Tear Fund. We know her from Bristol. Her status said she was in Capetown. So, being a good friend, I mentioned that we have another good friend in Capetown if she needs some local tips. Sally's one of those girls who could be in any country on any continent at any time really.

So then Sally replies on facebook to say .. that friend wouldn't happen to be called Andrew would he? I've not met him, but I'm just about to meet him tomorrow to go on a big motorbike trip up to Namibia to meet a mutual friend of ours, Graham.

The reason why they are doing this is that Graham has finally reached the point where he can complete the big adventure of a 27,000km bike trip from Vancouver to Capetown. Yes, you did read that correctly. Andrew and Graham did this trip last year, but Graham cracked his collarbone around Nairobi. He's now in a place to complete the trip. YAY go Graham.

Point of this post, facebook has made the world a ridiculously small world.

The weird thing is that Andrew and Sally could have probably made this whole trip without ever realising they had mutual friends in Liz and I, that's weird. Facebook was made for moments like this.

If you want to read about one of the coolest adventures you can have on a motorbike, go to www.homeinafrica.net and read and watch more. It's very very cool.

"choice" - a reflection on summer camp

2008-08-31T19:33:00.005-07:00

CHOICE. Here was a word that was used very often by my friend Phil as he spoke good piercing biblical truths to us at camp. He encouraged us to make good choices, big ones and little ones, one-off ones and daily ones. But here's the irony that strikes me as I reflect on our camp experience (English people insert "carry on" snigger). Summer camp the way we saw it involved almost no potential to make any choice at all for the campers. We didn't choose what we did, when we did it, who we did it with, or even whether we took part in it. We didn't choose our food or our meal times, or the people we hung out with. We didn't choose when to wake or sleep.

There were two consumerist selfish pseudo-choices I saw in camp. Before it starts you have the choice to choose who to be in a cabin with. (Inevitably this will lead to leadership dilemma when camper A chooses their friend and their "friend" clearly states "not camper A" on their form. Lovely). The second "choice" is which activities to do - since not everyone can do everything all the time. Unfortunately both these choices are entirely self-centred, and don't really help us to ground the teaching that Phil was driving at.

In essence our campers had one major choice to make: "get with the program" or not.

And that is where I really really struggle with the place that summer camp has in our spiritual walk. We're being told in our talks about real choices in a real world, but every element of the environment around us gives us no ability or expectation to make a choice, and so it feels so false. How can the words sink in? Real life is full of choices every second of every day, as a teenager and as an adult.

Does summer camp have a place in helping our Christian walk? Of course it does, and some aspects of it are amazing and wonderful. The shared experiences and conversations and explorations are often deep and rich. The opportunities it gives to some are invaluable - I have a fond memory of the delight on the face of a young person who comes from a 'challenging background'. He was being shown the details of a starfish up close by a leader, possibly for the first time, and he was enthralled. Liz and I watched covertly and smiled.

I believe we need to seriously consider how many camps we have, how much resource they tie up, and how we integrate them with the real reality outside planet camp. Most efforts made to integrate camp with reality and reality with camp are token gestures (in my direct experience of 4 camps so far). If camp can be a vehicle to serve existing youth groups and similar communities that are ALREADY formed, enabling some time to deepen friendships, explore serious aspects of life and faith together, and share fantastic experiences on waterskis, diving off cliffs, and climbing peaks, well, then GO CAMP! Let's go in together as a group, experience together and come out of the other side living reality together!

If we continue to form these intense, temporary, false communities for one week a year, and expect that to make a serious impact on a young life .. God help us.

the sopwiths land on planet camp

2008-08-31T15:26:00.007-07:00

Well, we accomplished it: the grand experiment. Would the Sopwiths be able to survive, enjoy and contribute to summer camp in BC? Liz and I had our doubts, but decided this was the time. We haven't engaged in summer camp since 1994 in North Wales.

Camp is a major part of the youth calendar in Vancouver, for those that attend church and for those that don't. Every kid goes for at least a week, some for more, some for the entire summer. The particular camp we joined with this year was Pioneer Pacific, specifically Breakaway (boys and girls aged 12-15). We know a few people involved in this camp, wanted to go somewhere cross-denominational, and preferably somewhere that people who aren't christians attend. It's a christian camp with a christian mission, and you are welcome to attend from any church or none. Once there we discovered that 95% of the campers and staff had been before, so we were the newbies.The intention was to help out as senior counsellors (pastoral support for the cabin leaders), to enjoy a bit of a family getaway in the delightful sea shanty cabin which is a short walk from the centre of the camp around a bay, and to generally experience planet camp.
By the beginning of August roles already began to shift (not unusual in these circumstances), and by two days into the camp we realised that the combination of family schedules, leading the musical worship (which ended up being a Tom thing), and the senior counsellor role, just did not work together in the beautiful harmony we had hoped. So for a bunch of reasons, we ended up handing over our major reason to be there to others, and I ended up co-ordinating all the music as my soul responsibility (from jumping rock to acoustic hymns and even a little african experience a capella under the trees). This allowed some good family times on the trampolines, beaches and canoes, as well as helping the camp run.
The experiment just about worked .. and we achieved much of what we set out to achieve. It was a great week on many fronts. Particularly fun hanging out with Phil Cann. Miraculously he had a cancellation of another camp, and was free at short notice to come and join us - thank God for that.
It's difficult from our vantage point to see how much lives were changed, and to see whether people met Jesus either for the first time or reconnected. I'm hoping to hear a few of those stories as the weeks unfold, because that for me is the major reason for these things to happen. It is also a fantastic opportunity for youth to connect with each other and have a fantastic time on the water, and on the land, doing some really really fun stuff. So yay to Pioneer Pacific.

Church in Vancouver: a view from the inside

2008-07-27T14:26:00.006-07:00

There should probably be a disclaimer before I begin to type these words. I know I'm not the first person to type these thoughts, and certainly there are many many of us that think them. Instead of a disclaimer, let me share my context for those that don't know me so well.

Liz and I have been members of two churches in our 16 years of marriage: Highgrove church, Bristol, UK (1992-2003) and Point Grey Community Church, Vancouver, Canada (2003-present). We have not simply been members, but fully-stuck-in serving ones that often found ourselves in positions of leadership of various church groups and activities. We have also been involved in two major ministries that run summer camps and events: Scripture Union (1987-1994) and Soul Survivor (1994-2004). Currently we are entering membership of our 5th Christian community ever: Youth for Christ, and are still members of PGCC, church number 2 in 16 years (in case you didn't catch that the first time round).

I give you this autobiography to help distance us a little from a particular breed of Christian that you will see all over North American cities, and throughout much of the western world: the consumer christian. Consumer christians in Vancouver can be recognised by their ability to commit to one church for betwen 6 months and 3 years, and then leave, even though they are still in the city and call it home. Their reasons for moving away from a church tend to be self-focussed ("I'm no longer being fed" is one of the ugliest religious phrases I can imagine and tends to get my blood boiling), rather than other-focussed (how many times have you ACTUALLY heard "I can serve Jesus and others more effectively there than here"). Of course it's very easy to dress up the self as the other (e.g. "The vision of the leadership meant I couldn't stay there any longer", "Things have changed so much in the last n months").

Church in Vancouver: same product different packaging? Here's what I'm seeing ...

Wow, the disclaimer was so long, you won't read the meat of the post. Perhaps I'll just let these thoughts sink in for a while, and then post what I was building up to separately. My hope (and indeed prayer) is that you will not read the next post as a rant from a consumer Christian, but a view from the inside with a level of credibility. I am passionate to see some changes to church, in order that Jesus becomes famous, and that the activities of the Kingdom of God are seen more clearly by those on the inside, and on the outside, of church.

the summer of 2008

2008-07-22T10:33:00.002-07:00

How grateful we are to be able to enjoy some summer for the first time since 2003 (house moving and renovations, and baby creation have made a serious impact on the last 5 summers). In contrast to the misery of two posts ago, I can bring you a much more cheerful, sunny report of a good July. The weather has been spectacular, the deck and back yard have been enjoyed with BBQ, friends and family visiting, slip and slides, paddling pools, bocce, and of course hockey and football (both types!). The beaches have been home for many days, and we are so fortunate to live in a piece of heaven.

We have enjoyed the opportunity to slow down a bit in between jobs, as I continue to build towards Youth Unlimited work full time from September. It has been a slow ramp up since January, but we feel excited and inspired with the preparations, and the plans are unfolding well. More on that soon. If you're feeling out of touch, fire me an email, and I'll make sure you get some letter updates from us.

We managed a few days on the Sunshine Coast with my Mum and Dad including some good beach and garden play, plenty of wildlife including a bear with 4 cubs, and a chance to simply be together. We're building towards our first genuine Canadian summer camp experience at Pioneer Pacific next month. We're going as a family which could be interesting. Loads of fun for sure, and hopefully not too crazy hard work .. we'll see. We would really really love to be at Soul Survivor, and miss those guys terribly. Hopefully one day soon with older kids, and miraculously cheaper air fares!

For those of you that are not getting to enjoy the beauty of summer quite as much us, our heart goes out to you .. really it does. But I have to say I sit here and feel like our summer has been well earned and a very very necessary change in pace. Thank you God for this gift, we will use it well!

A big heavy baby with 88 keys

2008-07-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

I finally get to own my first North American keyboard (a musical one that is) .. a trusty second hand Kurzweil PC2x. For those that know my previous keyboard from Bristol, you will not be surprised at the choice. I'm excitedly awaiting delivery any day now, and will hope to get some creative moments with it if Joel and Ollie will grant me that luxury. Music is something that has always been a passion, but I'm feeling really stirred in that world right now. A big part of what we do with Youth Unlimited will be around music and youth, so I'm excited to get back into it. I'm catching up on 20 years of music technology as I consider how to spend as little money as possible to connect instruments and mics to my beautiful macbook. We have come a long way from my DX7, Atari ST and 4track portastudio when I was a student that's for sure.

OK enough many of you have glazed eyes or have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. But blogs are about connecting with people, and this is a big part of me right now!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo ...... !

2008-07-06T16:39:00.001-07:00

http://www.delirious.co.uk/html/

the grim reality .. with a wishful thought

2008-06-09T20:59:00.003-07:00

June 2008: rain, intensity, sickness, computer projects, continued busy-ness while desperately trying to balance the many aspects of life, losing my temper with the kids, not having quite enough fun, not quite supported enough to become the official Youth Unlimited Area Director. I'm not sure what I was expecting from June, but this one is taking its toll.

It's been such a privilege and a great time being youth pastor at PGCC/UTown, and it's obviously weird to consider moving on from it. But here we are, the end of another school year (only 7 more until Joel is officially part of the youth group!), and September will look different.

Mum and Dad come to visit at the end of the week, and I can't wait to get across to the Sunshine Coast for a few days of pebble throwing and 'peace' (as peaceful as one can be in our current stage of family life).

What I would really love to do right now is run away to a secluded house with amazing views, a grand piano and a fireplace, and write songs for 2 weeks. Do you think I could get away with it?

YES

2008-04-30T22:18:00.001-07:00

Youth Emphasis Sunday happened this past week at PGCC (acronym'd nicely to YES!). I got the chance to lead worship with the youth band, preach a short bit on Galatians 5 (the fruits of the Spirit), and share a ton of stuff about our youth group. We then all ate pancakes, lovingly cooked by the youth group to raise money for the famous Historymaker missions offering.

It was a great morning - perhaps a little too much of a Tom show, but I did include other voices where possible! We have two services 9.30 and 11.11am, and they had incredibly different characters.

Really grateful to God for all that he did in and through us.

sorry, that was definitely a valid response

2008-04-21T20:26:00.002-07:00

Liz just answered the phone with her usual cheery "hello".
The computerised voice replies "I'm sorry that was an invalid response".
Liz hangs up.
In support of my wife, I thought it was an excellent response to a ringing telephone, and definitely full of validity.

big youth events

2008-04-08T19:37:00.006-07:00

Some well-minded Christians in the church subculture have told me that 'big events don't work'. Well, as sweeping generalisations go, this is not the worst I've heard, but it's not a particularly helpful statement.

If one's entire Christian life was defined by one's attendance at big events, you'd be right, they don't work.

For youth, the visible expression of a crowd, and the certain knowledge of being part of something bigger is vital. You mean there are another 2,000 people in my neighbourhood that are nuts enough to call Jesus Lord? Yes, there are. And when we do gather together to worship him, crushing so many aspects of an individualist, consumer, passion-driven culture; and when we do hear stories of what other youth are doing to see Christ re-presented in their school; and when we do pray for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done, AND we are prepared to be part of the answer to that prayer; and when we do allow someone to speak into our lives and propel us into the mission that God has for each one of us; and when we do pray for each other and commission each other to live amazing lives ...

... well THAT, in my not so humbly expressed opinion, is well worth it.

So that's why we sacrifice a ton of energy and time to pull together 2,000 youth from across the metro vancouver area and beyond, from every different style of church, from many many high schools, from tons of different face colours and ethnicities, pulled in via several youth organisations that operate under the banner of love that God flies above us. That is why we gave up a Monday night to pray for this stuff. And that is why we will meet on April 18 in Glad Tidings Church to make a lot of noise, and to be catapulted out of the doors into a Christ-centred life that is SO worth living.

If big events are all there is, then we're in trouble. If they help all of us walk the walk that John loves to describe (2 John 1:4-6) alongside smaller groups of mission-practicing Christ followers, and it connects us together more and more, then they TOTALLY work.

If you're in the hood, join in:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=7438752996

And there's more gathering opportunity coming up at www.historymaker.ca

the birds and the bees for a three year old

2008-04-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

investigating the underneath of rock in the back yard: the damp dirt reveals the expected combination of ants and wood louse.

dad: "there's a worm with lots of little worms"
joel: "that's what worms do"

dad couldn't argue with that and made a mental note to check up on how hermaphrodites reproduce.

is this the precursor to the birds and the bees?

joel then watches "the magic school bus" and is treated with an amazingly detailed and visual account of how a hen lays an egg with full internal pictures of the process. they hinted at the rooster's part in the operation, if you want your egg to produce a chick, not just an omelette. but they declined to show this process.

i guess we're lining up for an investigation of a beehive sometime this summer, and then by grade one he'll be all set for his first sex ed class at the age of 5 .. which really does happen by the way.

the energy of a complicated life

2008-03-30T20:14:00.004-07:00

It was always to be a challenge: dividing my time and energy into 5 major areas each week.
1) A husband of an amazing girl and father of a couple of energetic young toddlers
2) "half-time" youth pastor for Point Grey Community Church and UTown church
3) "half-time" raising support to be the Youth Unlimited Area Director for Vancouver
4) fixing computers for the church
5) fixing computers for YU
Each waking hour of each day is spent on one of those things.

So far we have all survived in tact. My boundary setting has been way better than I thought I could manage, I have stuck to certain hours rigidly, I have generally observed a sabbath each week (Thursday-ish), I have spent quality time with family, I am still breathing, I have seen success in each area of life.

Are there a ton of things I wish I'd done better? Have I said no to several things that would have been great to do? Have I neglected some key elements and relationships? Of course. Could I have done any better in this stage of life? Hmmm.

The thing I now realise after 3 months of this, is just how much energy and time is taken in making this work. Boundary setting, careful planning, timely communication, arrangement of meetings in an almost impossible schedule .. it all takes tons of energy, and time. But if I don't put in the effort up front, I'll burn out into a heap of smouldering ash before too long.

emotions

2008-03-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

joel builds a "road" of chocolate cake directly on the table. he declined to use the plate when daddy "suggests" it. before the polite request even has a chance to become a command, joel turns to daddy with a compassionate look and says:

"daddy are you angry, are you sad, are you happy, are you tired?"
my rather post-modern response was "yes"

liz and tom catch each other's eye, consider together the realisation that those 4 emotions wonderfully capture the moment. we then ponder further and recognise that this interchange defines much of parenting.

"are you angry, are you sad, are you happy, are you tired?"
"yes"

eject time machine

2008-03-01T20:54:00.002-08:00

How glamourous and adventurous my world has become that every now and again I get to tap a couple of keys on my beautiful sleek black macbook to enter the command "Eject Time Machine". I think HG Wells would be quite impressed.

scary moment, but all is well

2008-03-01T20:46:00.004-08:00

Returning home from a sun-drenched lunch with good friend John, he spotted something in the grass to the side of the path and went "oh" in a kind of "how curious?" manner. Tom took one look, his face whitened slightly as the blood rushed away, a barely audible gasp, and he visibly jumped slightly backwards as his heart raced with fear-prompted adrenaline.

The source of the shock was a 3inch soft beanie tiger which had been sadly discarded from a passing toddler's stroller.

John laughed .. quite a lot .. Tom was relieved that the creature was not actually alive. His explanation was that at first glance all he saw was orange and black stripes that could have so easily belonged to a bee or wasp. Wouldn't you flinch at a 3inch wasp?

Yeah right :->

Uniting and the mission field

2008-02-17T14:53:00.003-08:00

With a hint of irony, I was initially set to be involved in 3 separate youth events in Vancouver entitled "Unite" in the month of February. All three events brought church youth groups together, so I love that. It is definitely a season of "local uniting" of a few groups at a time. Then sometimes it's great to be involved in the big stuff where we ALL come together (e.g. onelife historymaker).

Last week saw our youth group join with University Chapel and Tenth Ave Alliance for a uniting fun time with music, food and games - great times. This last Friday was also great with three other churches (Bethel, Vancouver Chinese Pentecostal and Harvest City). More of a worship and teaching focus, but also the joy of having to watch 5 of us on stage dance along to this. Yes thanks Rosie for winning human bingo and giving us that opportunity! I really enjoyed speaking on "God is speaking, what can you hear?" Great bunch of youth, leader friends, and new people to meet.

Then yesterday morning I hung out with some of my heroes: some Christian youth who run clubs in their schools - some of them are doing some amazing things around prayer, being Jesus, and influencing their communities and the world. Graham and Heather cooked up a fabulous breakfast and we had a rich time of sharing stories.

It's been a good few days. But I should stop typing and prepare to hit the beach to add another wonderful flavour to the weekend.

The juggling act

2008-02-17T14:41:00.002-08:00

Nice to be back on my feet after being knocked back by a cold for over a week. Energy levels return, along with the sunshine - yay. I sit typing on the deck, watching Joel eat an icecream .. February? Really? Riding in the mountains must be amazing today with continued good snow and clear weather. Looking forward to the boys being a bit bigger so we can enjoy the mountains together. We may hit the beach once Ollie's awake.

Life is a complicated balance of 5 things: youth pastoring at PGCC, raising support for the new job with Youth Unlimited while trying not to start doing too much of the work before the money's in place, supporting computer systems in each organisation, and spending teh right time with the beautiful family and doing home stuff. This list is not written in any order of priority, they're all important! I have to say the juggling and boundary setting and scheduling probably constitutes it's own category of life-living to make 6! I'm grateful for wonderful people around me in all aspects of life, and when it works it works. When the balance is not there .. yuk .. not so good.

youth night: justice in the story of God

2008-02-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed our youth night on Friday. We're exploring God's heart for justice this term, and a couple of weeks ago we enjoyed giving ice cream treats to the youth at the local community centre and clothing, sleeping bags and backpacks to some homeless friends. This week was a chance to understand the perspective of why we do things like that.

We built two lines of chairs diagonally across the room to signify a timeline, split into groups based on the "6 acts" of the story of God (creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, Church, eternity). Each of our groups had 15mins to prepare a way of demonstrating how God expressed justice in each of those acts. I think it worked well, and we saw the consistency of God's heart for fairness, righteousness and equality .. justice.

There are probably plenty of people that do not see God as a God of justice, nor see his people as particularly expert at expressing it. I hope this night helped us to express the overall picture of the heart of God, because he doesn't change, his heart has always been and will always be for justice.

joel's preschool is SO cool

2008-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Joel goes to the best preschool in the world. We get there early this morning, all four of us, to build a quick snowman in the park . lots of beautiful wet snowman snow fell last night. Joel was joined by a couple of other school friends to build, then we go inside. The teacher arrives and announces .. clear out the water table, bring in buckets of snow, let's squirt different coloured ink into it. Who cares about circle time right now this is fun .. then later we're going outside to build a HOOOGE snowman.

now THAT's the way to be the coolest teacher in the world with a bunch of 3 year olds.

talking about the new role with Youth Unlimited

2007-12-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

Youth Unlimited, Vancouver Area Director

2007-12-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

Well, the next steps in a sopwithworld adventure are beginning to become real. After 4 years as youth pastor in Point Grey, the call of the city gets louder, and I jump into the world of Youth Unlimited (known to many as Youth for Christ). I'm grateful for the chance to transition slowly, and continue as youth pastor until June. But wow, here we go, I'm the Area Director for Vancouver (Eastside, Westside and Downtown). Eric in Richmond and Mark in North Vancouver will be neighbouring Area Directors, while Andy's the boss over the whole lower mainland region.

The call to work with youth in Vancouver is as strong as ever, and this will be the most fantastic base from which to realise the dreams that God's planted in my heart over the years. I love what these crazy christ-followers are doing, and are hoping to do. Building and developing discipleship communities of youth in every walk of life, every neighbourhood. Partnering with churches, community organisations, other missions organisations. It's the most natural step in the world, enlarging the vision that I already live for, across the city that I love so much: "encouraging young people to live amazing lives".

Liz is really excited, Joel loves the new hat which suits him better than me, Ollie is .. well unphased as usual. His response to the question tends to be aaarraghggg, da-da-da-da. Good lad :)

Plenty of challenge and uncertainty, as entrepreneurial as you can imagine. Loads of opportunities, and a need for staff and volunteers to back up the current team.

cywc 2007 reflections

2007-12-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

Thurs to Sun with one big family of Canadian Youth Workers. Obviously still processing, but can at least scribble some initial thoughts. I sit here aching and shivery in bed on Monday morning. Not sure how I got sick, and of all the days, it's the day when Liz could really do with my full energy to help deal with the energy-sapping boys, having dealt with them alone for three days :( thanks rosie for helping out.

What rocked:
1) it was downtown vancouver. not in burnaby, not in the valley, or langley, or across the border, or toronto. it was HERE.
2) 900 people from all across Canada St John to Vancouver Island, Yukon to Hamilton. thank you to those that travelled many hours to be here
3) it snowed
4) amazing unity between denominations
5) great conversations
6) so many friends in one place
7) starbucks in the hotel
8) using first baptist for one session
9) the theme of sabbath and rest and being co-authors in the story of God
10) seeing marko in a canada hockey jersey

some of my personal highlights from the main sessions
starfield - the boys. tim talked of it being one big family reunion. nice.
matt maher - worship leading the way we do it. random and spontaneous in places. responsive, yet rocking. great
thousand foot krutch - finally I hear them and see what everyone's going on about. they do rock, it must be said
mannafest - wow. he's amazing at what he does
mark buchanan - simply stated timeless truths that pierce the heart and must change action
joyce rees - listen and obey. prophetic, incredible, powerful. will be listening to this many more times
marko - youth work 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 he TOTALLY nailed it. not-driven, community, present, move with the times

I have a few concerns about it being a sustainable annual event. This was all of us on the scene of christian canadian youthwork. Could we really do the same thing every year in different parts of the country without significant repeat? We already had everyone inputting on their chosen specialised subjects, and it was not exactly cutting edge .. hmmm. i'm glad there are good communication channels open.

an important event. groundbreaking. influential. the buzz around the place was phenomenal. so many great connections and conversations. everyone i spoke to had an amazing time. lots of good comes out of it for sure. let's face it, do we even have a national sense of anything in this country? we unite around some senses of "not" .. but where's the positive national unity? we sure don't have national politics. tim summed up one sense of unity when we all get behind whichever Canadian NHL team in the stanley cup is about to destroy the americans. so to have a truly national event with positive agenda and positive outcome is special and important.

I end with where I started on this journey of the CYWC (kind of began for me in california Feb 2006!). what makes it canadian, and not an import from the states? we had some significant conversations over the past 11 months on this very topic, and I think we achieved everything we set out to achieve, plus some. Thank you, thank you, thank you marko and tic for your incredible sensitivity, and servant hearts. this was a truly canadian event, and that helps us a load with our identity. The best of the experiences of NYWC in a truly canadian context. you can now return to being both american and californian for a while, knowing that you stepped aside to really bless us. major props.

Canadian Youth Workers Conference 2007

2007-11-29T22:14:00.000-08:00

What better reason to kick some blogging off than Canadian Youth Workers Conference 2007 . Tons of youthworkers descend on our perfect, sunny, snow in the mountains, picture-perfect home. The Sheraton Wall Centre sees 900 of us from all over the country get together to meet, learn, share, go nuts, worship, pray, and live life to the full.

I used to pass the Wall Centre every day on the bus for a year when working downtown at HSBC, and something about it always alerted my attention - it's a totally cool building, and has been the highest building in the city for a while .. soon to be outbuilt. I used to pray about it a load, and dream of it full of people worshipping God. And now it's going to happen in the next few days, it's really really weird. But I LOVE it.

So fun to walk in the front door this afternoon with the beautiful family and instantly connect with 9 people I know. It's going to be 4 solid days of chatting with friends about stuff that we are totally passionate about - young people getting excited about Jesus. Aaaahhh .. good days.

time for new life?

2007-11-29T21:56:00.000-08:00

a blog in serious need of resurrection life. no excuses, no promises of more consistent posting, no idea what might happen next.

personal time on the mac is precious, and joel and ollie love to join in wherever possible.

angry .. pause .. haha .. profound

2007-09-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

After a particularly anger-inspiring bath time with the boys, where neither of them acted in a way to fill me with joy and love and laughter, I was found growling in exasperation "G-a-a-a-a-w-d, who would be a father?"

To which the rather obvious, quiet, hilarious, and respectful answer was ..

.. "I would"

a quote I just made up

2007-04-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

"moments of peace call for cups of tea"

To England and back 2007

2007-04-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

One of the things you do before emigration, is count the cost of return trips to the homeland. You will of course need to reserve the bulk of your vacation time every 2 years or so to visit family and friends, especially when some of them are unable to travel to see you. We counted that cost as a couple. To add a 2 yr old and a baby into that mix .. Oh My Word, does that ever take it to a whole new level of intensity.

joel enjoying an old(ish) building - the liverpool museum

We have survived a 16 day trip to England. Whether or not we are each in one piece is yet to be determined. The jet lag is lessening by the hour, but has had it's horrible times. Fighting off some sickness, and recovering from total overload of last week, we are steadily reaching planet earth again.

What an amazing trip it was! 3 major locations in England, more visits with more people than it is possible to list, some wonderful memories, some moments of pure joy, inclusion of a very special wedding, visits to great-grandparents, beach, playgrounds, city, country, all major supermarkets, youth events, 2 wonderful churches, old friends, new children, and some of the most divine food you can ever imagine. Tom is continuing to fantasise over Sainsbury's "taste the difference" stem ginger and treacle pudding with toffee and treacle sauce, with extra thick double cream. SPECTACULAR. Newly out, so I can't link to it on the sainsbo's site. If you are in the UK and haven't tried it yet, please do yourself a favour, and feel free to make me jealous with your opinion in the comments.

And do you know what's just totally weird .. we didn't visit a single pub! Stage of life has some influence of course, and who would seriously let Joel drink beer, come on! The fact that neither of us drink is a factor too. However is it actually a legitimate trip to England without crossing the threshold of a single hostelry? I feel totally embarrassed to admit it to the world, and am surprised they didn't challenge us at Heathrow on the way out. "How many times did you visit a pub sir? None? Are you serious? What gives you the right to leave the country, get out there and quaff a jar of real ale now you southern pooffter." If you are Canadian, you have absolutely NO understanding of what I've just written. Sorry about that :)

A wonderful trip, and now .. nice to be home .. at least it will be, once we're fully back in mind body and spirit!

turns in the road .. How well do we turn? And whose turn is it?

2007-02-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

We all get to those points where things are happening around us, opportunities are opening up, choices are to be made, developments are .. well, developing. 2007 has started off with a ton of potential change, and involvement in some really really cool stuff in youth ministry world. I hinted at it a few posts ago - local, regional, provincial, national, there's some great stuff going down in yoof world, and I get the privilege to be part of what God's doing. I also have to SERIOUSLY work out how much time and energy there is to go around in my 37 year old, 2 young kids, full-time local youth pastor world. Playing superman is a bit easier for a 22 year old single guy .. but I am so glad not to be that guy any more .. he was a bit of an idiot to be honest, and I get better and better with each year that passes.

As I (again) watch a few young adult types weighing up how to discern what God's will is for their life, and worry about the way we as human beings get so caught up with "doing the right thing" or "making the right choice" or "doing what God wants", this is a perfect opportunity for me to see how well I stack up. Here's a few "stupid why things" I notice when we "try" to discern God's will for big life/ministry choices.

1. Why do we turn on the heat and suddenly expect God to practically write the answers in the sky? Have we been missing all that he has been prompting in the previous months? It's like our prayers are prayed as if history begins today with a blank sheet. duh.

2. Why does it always have to be one or the other? Could God be giving YOU the choice and assuring your true destiny of relationship with him whichever one you choose?

3. Why do we put so little weight on the counsel of others? They know things about us that we are blind to.

4. Why are we so impatient?

I think I'm pretty good on that stuff .. but I have so much to learn on my walk with God. God's doing Kingdom stuff .. a lot. It's what he does. It's so cool that we can check out what he's doing and join in. It's so cool that I get the opportunity to be on 9 ministry teams right now. Did I say 9? What am I thinking? How can I be on 9 active teams in youth ministry, and be a good husband and father, and be considering a few other "projects" and teams to join?

And I wonder why I am seeing classic signs of stress and burn out right now .. I'm not proud of my teeth-grinding, insomnia, short temper with Joel and Ollie, desire to hit things, insurmountable unread emails, dropped tasks all around, no sense of rest, pitiful devotional life, ignoring this blog and all my friends' blogs, not engaging in my hobbies, using the computer late, waking with tasks on my mind, wishing I could get to x,y and z, wanting to connect with this and that person, finding the only time I really engage with God is in the shower .. beep beep beep beep .. warning warning.

God is speaking to me all the time about the choices I have to make, through the work, through the youth I hang out with, through Liz, through the kids, through the Bible, through the computer that crashed it's hard drive again, through friends, through creation, through the internet, through the cell-phone, through the guy that phones my up on saturday night at 9.11pm and makes me cry .. partly because I failed to speak to him with the respect he deserved .. and partly because he is drifting from God, he doesn't believe it, and I care about him deeply.

Somehow the only time I meaningfully interact with God is those 5 mins in the shower. That is simply wrong. God you're speaking, and I'm starting to listen. Sorry it took me a while, it's 11pm on a Saturday night, and 5.5 hours sleep last night was not enough. Please be there in my sleep and wake me up with YOUR plans on my mind tomorrow, NOT mine. Amen.

cheap .. but oh so nice

2007-02-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

Being cheap on valentines day .. i can't decide if that is really really bad, or true love. darcy made me think about it, so I have to post now. If you do spend a truck-load of money on your gal on valentines day what does that say about the rest of your year .. I mean really?

not sure of the answer, perhaps I'm the worst husband ever?

But i am truly proud of how much Liz and I enjoyed our 2-for-1 DQ blizzard sitting in the car looking at our gorgeous home city through a rain-covered windshield on a dark night on the beach. $3.99 plus tax. A pathetically cheap valentines.

I am proud of how much we enjoyed it. Thanks for the babysitting rosie, you rock.

how to tell someone's age and stage ..

2007-01-31T23:22:00.000-08:00

How to tell someone's age and stage without meeting them .. check what's under the sofa cushions.

It just struck me an hour ago as I plumped the cushions for no apparent reason. When i was a student there used to be nothing but random housedust under the sofa cushion, because we all checked often in the hope of a coin or two to buy dinner. As you move into working life, you of course will always find coins there. Now moving into the kids zone I find nothing but food and crayons .. very disappointing.

I suppose one day I will be finding dentures, spectacles, and a random grandchild who's name I can't quite put my finger on. What's under your sofa cushions? Go check now.

OneLife : 1400 Jesus followers : a great next step

2007-01-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

There was nowhere else on earth I would rather have been last night, than in my home town, surrounded by worshipping teenagers who continue to commit their lives to all that God has for them. It was chaotic, bursting at the seams, passionate. Multi-region, multi-school, multi-church, multi-denominational, multi-generational, multi everything .. unity in diversity. The one thing that will never be "multi" amongst us is our ONE unifying, incredible, dangerous faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

There was this moment as I sat and listened to 4 high school students share a bit of their stories about the prayer groups they are leading in their schools .. I shared the moment with the room, it hit me like a stone. There's this little section of a MySpace profile for you to enter your "heroes". I have been thinking about this for a few months. How do you single out the influencers from the whole of history to enter in that bizarre box? How do I sum up in a readable paragraph the incredible people who I respect and admire and that make me who I am in "my space"?

Well, I can't.

So it hit me as these 4 seventeen year olds spoke. Right here, right now, these 4 are my heroes. They are taking part in the story of God in Vancouver, they are choosing to do what they have been called to do, they are living an amazing life for Jesus. So to honour them .. you can see their names here http://myspace.com/tomsopwith

Keep dreaming heroes, I'm on your team.

OneLife 0701

OneLife pt1 : Christ is not a condiment

2007-01-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

Excited for the next step in the story of God, written around the youth of Vancouver. Grass roots, unpolished, led and influenced by high school students, full of anticipation for what God is doing with us all. It's a wave to surf. There's no way man could pull this together .. it has to be a God thing ..

http://onelifeyouth.com

jerusalem .. judea .. samaria .. the ends of the earth

2006-12-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Acts 1:8 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth

Part of God's ongoing conversation with me last year involved some helpful definition of this verse for my particular circumstance. I recognise that the Westside of Vancouver corresponds to my Jerusalem, the city and surrounds of Vancouver could be seen as Judea, Samaria the province of British Columbia, and the ends of the earth .. well that speaks for itself really. The school year of 2005/6 was a time to focus on the "Jerusalem" mission: what are we doing in this region of the city to see the Kingdom of God advanced?

We rapidly approach Christmas and this is often an excellent opportunity to take stock, consider vision and philosophy of ministry, make adjustments, dwell in God's presence to hear His voice for the coming season.
As I do this (please Oliver let me do this as I type and STOP whinging NOW .. grrrr), I'm really quite excited to realise that I am an active part of leadership teams in all the defined spheres of my personal version of Acts 1. The church (pgcc/utown), the Westside (amplify), Vancouver (onelife), BC (historymaker) and the nation of Canada (canadian youth workers conference). God's totally up to something, and I'm rather excited to see what He is doing, and what He's letting me be a part of. WOW

surprised by moments of joy

2006-12-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

So it really is about time I counteracted the last post which has sat there for far too long. Being a parent is really hard work, and frankly I'm not enjoying a lot of it. But one thing parenting 2 young boys does is focus you on those wonderful moments of joy. e.g. Joel in the bath in fits of giggles. Joel loads a small mound of bubbles onto the side of the tub, while Dad is poised with towel in hand. "Boom, Pah" says Dad as he brings the towel down onto the bath and wipes away the bubbles in one smooth motion.

Have taken some wonderful portraits of the two of them which I hope to share with you soon .. just need to pick out the best ones of the many hundred!!

I feel cheated

2006-11-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

When we managed to take plenty of pictures of Joel as a baby, and managed to encourage and train him to write his blog, so many people said .. you've got to do your best to do the same for your second child. Of course we knew life would be so much busier with the second child, and we knew we'd have to try really hard to keep up the same level of photography and writing to preserve these special times and share with others. Oliver is here, and he's a fabulous baby who we would love to be sharing with the world.

This is the thing that nobody told me. It has almost nothing to do with parental effort and energy levels to achieve the same high standards of journalism. Sure, we knew it would be tough, and we were unlikely to repeat our efforts. But our efforts have been actively sabotaged by Joel to an extent that I did not believe possible.

Joel has managed with INCREDIBLE effectiveness to launch himself as a "journalism terrorist". He continues to be a fantastic older brother, a fun-filled, beautiful lovely son, a friend to many, and a brightener of lives. Joel is frankly gorgeous. We are proud of him as parents, and proud of our parenting.

But as I sit here and type after 1 hr 20mins of uncontrollable screaming, tantrum like behaviour, crying himself sick, clear disobedience, total clarity of expectations between 2yr old, mom and dad, and great aunt Jen (staying with us until Tuesday), and more stamina than I can possibly imagine from him. He is desperate to sleep, and yet defiance is so much more important.

He thwarts any attempt from three adults to work or rest or play.

For those that don't have two kids, you may read this and either despair at what is happening, or bring out some comment about the terrible twos. For anyone that has been here before, you know that this time of life is not in any way straighforward. Discipline and time-outs are no more a science than working out why a baby is crying. They are art. And an artist can never work under such stressful circumstances where energy is sapped. bummer. Survival by the hour, and digging into every ounce of depth of character that God has been gracious enough to grant us. Broken sleep, and an overwhelming span of work involvement just make the stress-induced teeth-grinding more pronounced. 2007's dental bill will be large, if there are any teeth left to work on.

To know that the season will pass is reassurance, but of course doesn't make a scrap of difference to how hard it is to keep going. Oh I didn't mention the unrelenting rain, the undrinkable water supply for 7 days so far, and the colds that 3/5ths of us are carrying .. but those aspects are almost insignificant. I'm not sure what to think of the similarities drawn by Jen between Joel's behaviour and his father's at the same age. At least I'm the nicest person I know, so he'll turn out OK.

I really am not a fan of cathartic blogging. I hope this is the last time I feel called to it. If you pray, pray for us. If you don't .. learn how, God is the best listener I know.

Rain never stops play pt2

2006-11-10T01:17:00.000-08:00

if you've not read Rain never stops play pt1, you need to first.

Joel and I enjoyed a backlane development in the form of puddle boules (FR) or bocci (IT) the other day. The rain was not as torrential, but the puddle was on fine form. Essential ingredients were similar: water, wet weather gear, windfalls. Take it in turns to hurl apples toward each other in the hope of good bopping (splashing), and eventual destruction of apples. much fun. ollie and liz slept. unlike right now as i type this post one handed on his one week anniversary to the minute!

oh come on .. get serious

2006-11-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

I mean, come on ... what is this? click on the ticket to read the reason for us being $45 poorer.

Polite guy with bright yellow jacket said he may have missed the little no parking sign himself, but had to get me anyhow. Polite woman on customer service line said "sorry, can't give you any mercy, call back if you ever get done on a meter, and i'll see what i can do". Polite Tom got nowhere .. one of the VERY few reasons not to live in a city i guess. ah well.

he is here

2006-11-04T20:04:00.000-08:00

To quote Andrea Laing, I've gone from "being a parent" to "having a family". Two boys, two years separating them, the adventure continually unfolds.

Oliver is here (Thomas Oliver Matthew Sopwith), 9lb, Nov 3, 2006, 00.55. Adorable, incredibly good looking, and so far bringing us much joy and a bonus ration of sleep. This is where all you parents pipe up with "that won't last". Yeah, we know, but that doesn't stop us revelling in it so far. Time for a wonderful week of family time and nothing else .. yeah :o)

here's the oliver blog

missional church? check this guy out

2006-10-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

"It may be stupidity- let's just call it a leap of faith."

Let's just call it one of the best decisions you ever made as a follower of Jesus, Rev Taylor. Good job!

thx to matt for the link

Rain never stops play

2006-10-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you're fortunate enough to be a native of one of those "truly civilised" countries, and then unfortunate enough for your national cricket team to play a test series in England, you will know only too well the phrase "rain stopped play". You have had to mourn as your team is forced to "draw" a match with an England team that would surely have been beaten to pulp by your fast bowlers (or outspun by Warne, if you're an aussie).

Well Joel and I have the perfect antedote to the pouring rain - "back lane rain cricket".

The autumn rains finally hit yesterday after a glorious summer, and we have a puddle that extends the whole 22 yards (the length of a wicket for all you Canadians .. the wicket being the length of grass between the two sets of wickets .. and a wicket is not the place you line up to get money in a bank .. it's the stumps and bails .. oh forget it, why do I bother trying to explain this!).

Anyway, picture a long puddle in the pouring rain. Joel stands in one end of it fully clothed in his rain gear and wellingtons (gum boots). Tom then obtains a windfall apple from the neighbours' tree, paces out, and begins the run in. He reaches the end of the puddle, firmly planting his left foot to cause an almighty splash. Over goes the arm to release a ball at 115 km/h, pitching just ahead of joel. The apple makes another almighty splash covering Joel. Much hilarious giggling from both boys.

It is a shame that Liz was not feeling so well, and the rain prevented photographic evidence. It was perhaps a little unfair not to give Joel a bat even for modest defence.

A sodden cyclist chooses to pass us in the lane. "teaching your boy about the joy of puddles, eh?". My reply: "he already knows all about joy, he's teaching me." That's my boy summed up.

update on youth stuff

2006-10-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

i've just realised rosie writes great updates on what's going on with our youth group. always weird to see it from someone else's perspective, and really encouraging. rosie is awesome, and it's going to be fun watching some of her passion infect all our youth with an amazing relationship with Jesus. she read stories about true worship on friday and produced a video to help us grab what worshipping God is really all about. this is a year for good stuff in our group. it makes me realise how far we're getting when we get disappointed that it was a small group on friday, but there were 18 of us - 3 times as many as when i started here. we currently have a core group of 30 and many more on the fringes. but way way way way way more important than that, we are seeing lives change for the better as youth meet Jesus. yay! pray for us if you're reading this and have any idea who God is :o) http://www.pgcc.org/youth.htm

taking a photo made me cry

2006-09-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Of course if you've never been a father, you have no idea quite the emotion that hits you when you see certain things. I was surprised at the tears welling up when I previewed this shot on my beautiful D50 while walking on the beach yesterday.

Given that split second again, there may have been a couple of adjustments to make to the shot .. but wow is it one of my favourite photos ever.

other favourite tom photos here

"flyboys" made me glow apparently

2006-09-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

so, if someone sets out to make a totally authentic movie about WWI fighter pilots, I am likely to get very very very very very excited .. particularly if there's an Xbox game on the back of it.

Flyboys .. what a fabulous movie (in my world)

Marty and Timbo and I did the boys thing on sunday night, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I'm not sure everyone will, but my name's Sopwith, what do you expect me to do when fokker DR-1's are shot down in every manner possible, heroes do silly things, corny lines reign, and the guy gets the incredibly cute french girl! Timbo says "it's a bit over-sentimental". He was being kind, the sentiment and incredibly over-done storyline oozed like syrup with sugar and honey in it. It would almost be vulgar except that this was the era of the coolest people that ever lived, and it is pure smiley entertainment. Biggles antics, fabulous artwork and graphics to really bring the era alive. Some incredible flying sequences. Thank God the technology allows such fantasy to be properly realised.

Of course the whole movie was about americans flying french planes in a french squadron, which was entertaining, but as an englishman SO disappointing. There was only one mention of a Sopwith, and we never saw one flying .. PAH! Thank God they didn't actually end the movie by saying the americans won us the war .. that would have been the unforgiveable sin. The movie was at least based on much truth and realism, and was evidently a HUGE labour of love by the makers.

So I applaud all involved, will definitely watch it again, probably buy the DVD and hope not to get too disappointed by the PC game. If only some true brits will see all the technology and research developed for it, and secure some crazy budget for a real biggles adventure, i'm pretty much in heaven.

the unfortunate reality, the movie will not do well financially, and the single most wonderful era of aircraft combat will continue to be a specialism for the few fanatics. if I had several million dollars ... hmmm

the danger of smiling in photos

2006-09-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

I tried 2 photos, the other one included me looking like Sheryl Crowe .. so perhaps a small pinch of salt needed. I nearly paintbrushed over the Prince Charles bit, but left it for comedy value.

thx to Paul "Elton" Moores for the suggestion .. but I do not intend to learn the lyrics to summer nights. starring in a pulp fiction follow up .. well maybe

http://www.myheritage.com

drugs wasps and the power of prayer

2006-09-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

So Joel was stung by a wasp twice in 48 hours. Bad news .. it hurt. Good news .. we now know that Joel is not allergic to stings .. unlike Liz who is. Liz gave Joel some of his special drugs (painkiller disguised as fruit syrup, getting the response "nyum nyum"). Liz was having a bad day on many counts so indulged in some of her drugs - real English chocolate. She then says to Joel, "Daddy's getting his drugs later."
"Oh yeah" says I, "what's that then?".
"You're going to a prayer meeting."

How right she was. Tom and friends went to join 850 people from every tribe tongue and nation, many churches and traditions, joining to pray for our city and our nation. It was AWESOME, and if you'd seen me last night, you'd have thought I was on drugs for sure.

This morning I have a prayer hangover, after a terrible night's sleep, so resort to advil and fruit juice (translated to panadol for you Brits).

a day in the life of a yoof pasta?

2006-09-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

to be fair, not all days are like today. but it gives a window into the life of Tom, so read on.

6.30 awoke around the same time as Joel stumbled past ex-member of youth group asleep on the sofa who really needed a place to crash and really needs to get to the doctors, and really could do with some stability in life, and start making some great decisions - he starts school again today as a last attempt to try and finish gr12.
7.00 youth leader in our team and great friend and Joel's godfather, Ger, knocks on the door and joel and I join him to eat cinny buns, drink coffee and play on the swings. he's leaving for Australia in 2 weeks!
8.15 return home to say good morning to 7month pregnant Liz, and our new wonderful PAIS youth intern, Rosie, recently landed from England, on the way to her first day in the office.
9.30 Drop the boy at the doctors, go to Toys R Us for Joel's upcoming party, and Bestbuy for cheap bits to keep the computer in order
11.30 Joel sleeps, Liz visits chiropracter, I play lots of guitar .. yes :)
3.00 Joel wakes .. wow that was a long nap. lunch
3.30 playing in the park with a view of the ocean and the mountains
6.00 bedtime routines for Joel
7.30 food
8.00 can't resist a little youth group prep
9.00 rockstar supernova .. storm storms it, toby .. wow he might win it.
10.30 snoring, bit tired really

What a great day off, as term begins for the rest of the world.

vision, surrounded, furball, ice cream

2006-08-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

a sublime experience to join with a team of young (mostly English) full-on soul'd out worshippers this morning and help pass on some wisdom about vision .. tell some of our incredible story, and join with the funky PAIS team as we work together in this amazing city. i loved it.

summer's weird as i get little chance to hang out with teenagers. it totally changes my whole life, so i can't wait to get going and be surrounded by them again .. it is after all pretty much the reason i live.

looking at the pic of dilana in my last post, it sums up some of what i'm going through. but when the perspective's good, and God's on my case, life is very very exciting, rather than an out of control furball. as part of my training this morning i was talking about the diffence between a blog and a journal. so: annoyingly for you, most of the incredible stuff going on today is journal stuff. but i sit here very tired, and in a GOOD place. the ice cream has helped.

supernova - 2 weeks and we'll know

2006-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

just watching the rockstar supernova results show as i type. compared to last night everyone's a bit off tonight.

dilana's still the winner i reckon - she just simply out-rocks and out-performs the others, but i have to say all the remaining rockers are really really good, and we could totally imagine any of them fronting the band. last night's show was awesome. respect to ryan for treating a grand piano like a dukes of hazzard car to rock coldplay's clocks. not sure i'd have picked toby for the encore.

respect to magni for being the only one NOT in the bottom three.

Joel has danced like never before, including multiple sofa stage dives - both onto it and off it! He totally emulates Tommy Lee with air-drumming angst. thankfully he will not emulate mr lee in life .. we won't let it happen of course!!! if you've not watched the show, i'm sorry for you. it's been pure entertainment. although i should really release myself from the obsession and get on with real life. i'm not actually going to be a world famous rockstar, i have an even better life ahead of me ;)

surreal beginning to a birthday

2006-08-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

the clock clicks to midnight, and i'm standing in the international arrivals of vancouver airport surrounded by people to meet someone i've never met. and no-one knows it's my birthday. weird feeling.

terrific malaysian food at banana leaf and some quality family beach time made birthday memories sweet. the laing family from upstairs serenaded with the time-honoured tune. cake, cards and daddy makes choices all day. we like.

so .. who was i meeting at the airport i hear you ask? rosie is my new friend and co-worker, ready for an amazing 10 months. the next chapter opens as we join with PAIS on the westside to see some real cool stuff happen - really excited.

the week before i'm 37

2006-08-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

trouble with liz turning 37 five months before me, is that i already have it in my mind i'm that old. so stop me from telling you i'm 38 on monday. them there numbers are quite high aren't they? not too bad until you get told by your wife that when your son enters the youth group you'll be 50!!! ooooh, now that's getting serious. thankfully i know some funky 50 year old youth pastors, and i will simply have to join that hall of fame.

it's been a rollercoaster of a week emotionally and stress-wise. big mixture of things, some of which unbloggable (there's a 21st century adjective for you). one of the things about standing up in front of a church and preaching is that you are likely to have a horrid time either before hand or after - if you don't know what i'm talking about, ask a pastor. this week it was after.

it's always a weird time of year as the whole person transitions from visionary musing and lesser pace, into the beginning of a hectic new school/church year. being a more natural "architect" than a "building project manager", it seems to kill me each year. when God drags me onto his page and gets my priorities in line, life looks incredible and exciting. when i stare in panic at the inbox, tasklist and calendar, and realise how much i have not yet entered into those things from the vague hopeful notions floating around the upper reaches of my mind, it can end up in these sort of questions .. "will the piano falling from the dangling rope crush me before the steamtrain hits me square in the face? or does the sniper in the bushes that i haven't even seen yet take me out before either?"

of course at the end of October, these questions become meaningless .. child number two arrives with all the associated sleep deprivation and life-altering mess. Prayer of the day ..."Please God, help" also .. "thank you God theat when i'm in the thick of all this life of teenagers and youth pastoring and stuff .. I absolutely LOVE it and wouldn't swap it for anything." bring it on :o)

hermeneutics nailed

2006-08-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

No, i don't have the perfect hermeneutic to share with you all. It's just that I've finally completed a correspondence course with Summit Pacific which I have been aiming to complete since Sept 2005. Life has just been too full, but summer was my last real chance to nail it. So I did. It was actually lots and lots of fun. I was mostly studying Ephesians, which is one of the coolest books in the Bible, and I tended to get really carried away - just for fun spend 20mins reading it NOW. Somehow I have to say engineering and management studies never quite caught me in the same way, so it's fun to study something I really care about!

Tommy's breakfast adventure with Joel

2006-07-31T21:35:00.000-07:00

Had a real fun adventure with the boy this morning. Dropped Wayne off for a meeting with Alan Roxburgh, we hit Granville Island for some urban adventuring, photography, coffee and bagel.

Joel looking good for 8.10am
a sneaky sit in the drivers seat of an aquabus. Liz wants to be an aquabus driver, Tom wants to be a seaplane pilot. Joel is making up his mind, but drummer, basketball player and city garbage collector are currently top fo the list.
a quick flutter of the eyelids, and the girl from spud gave me a free apple .. nice move
coffee, bagel, raspberry scone, apple - does breakfast get any better than this?
joel kindly bought mummy some yellow fresias to take home .. what a great son!

aussie visiting

2006-07-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had a weekend of excellent visits. It feels like every waking hour of sunday was spent in conversation. Who should pop in on the way back home from St John, New Brunswick? Wayne, Sydney Anglican with mission on the heart and a big influence in the Australian end of that most historic of churches. Wayne and Meg, old friends and a vital part of our early Vancouver story (they were here to meet and greet on our first visit, and did lots to help our love affair with the city take shape!). Great to hang out, talk church and mission, and show him what we're doing round here. We enjoyed doing dinner with other aussie friends of Wayne's who have returned to the 'couv for some further Regent action. Kate and Jared live up the street with a 1yr old Enye .. we met in the park. Then to complete the visits, Steve, my cousin from Herefordshire is aiming for another week in this heavenly land. He dropped off some winter gear with us as he'll aim for the interior, (Fernie or Golden) once there's a promise of some white stuff. For now the mono-ski has little use for his summer work in Victoria.

where was i this weekend

2006-07-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

wishing we were here

but loving being here(written in June 2003)

although very unimpressed by a small flood caused by a pipe from the 1930s making an impact on our lovely bathroom. what you mean we have to pull down those tiles that finally got put up earlier this year??!! grrr rrrr grrrr rrrr

Supernova - the story so far

2006-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm now officially obsessed with Rockstar Supernova. So here's my personal order of remaining rockers based on 3 performances, and seeing a bit of "who they are" in the reality episodes, on the website and stuff. This is not a prediction of the competition results (apart from a very likely winner!), just the way I'm personally voting right now. If you've not watched it yet .. click, get up to speed and tune in!

1) Dilana Lukas Patrice Toby Storm
2) Magni Phil Jenny Ryan
3) Dana Jill Josh Zayra

You may wonder what a strange thing to do, post a list like this on a blog of limited readership and hardly any likeliehood of further discussion. Well, it's true to the original intentions of this blog, soI did it!

reality rocks

2006-07-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

i have to say this took me totally by surprise, grabbed me by the shoulders and sucked me in. i am hooked and if you're unfortunate to be in a country where it's not being shown, watch it at msn. pop idol in all its shallow sheen, looks like plastic karaoke, this is hardcore with real musicians.

we're into week 2, the only reality TV to consider.

totally agree with the encore choices of the band .. either of those two could be the one .. be interesting to see how they all shape up in the next months.

dysfunctional todo list and the Purpose Driven podcast

2006-06-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

so .. if something doesn't go on the task list, it's S-O-O-O not going to happen. however if something does go on the list, there is no guarantee that it will ever get done.

anyone else have a todo list like this? seriously dysfunctional.

summer is a time to reflect, plan, envision, and work out just what is going on with my life? still totally answering that question, and probably would benefit from some carthartic blogging to help the process. in the meantime, i'm laughing quite a lot at doug fields and the crew on their podcast. the first one was disastrously bad, but they're a bit in the swing of it now, and it's showing me a lot about north american youth ministry .. just even by the way they chat inanely. don't totally go for the whole purpose driven youth thing, although there's some great elements to it for sure. but hearing them be normal puts it all in really good perspective.

if you're in north america and youth ministry you should definitely give it a go.

while on the subject of podcasts, they're my lifeblood right now (joel doesn't let me read much), so if you have any faith building recommendations, let me know. MOSAIC with erwin mcmanus is pretty cool, and of course HTB with my cousin archie, friend tim, and the unstoppable nicky gumbel. on a different level, thank God for the Tongcast, as dance music is sorely missing from Vancouver radio stations.

so much to blog .. and yet so much lovely weather

2006-06-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

10 days of straight gorgeous summer in Vancouver BC .. BRING IT ON. Lots more to come and a few opportunities to enjoy it. shame there's quite so much other stuff to keep me working.

stood on a bee today .. what happened next?

2006-06-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite like a bee sting to test one's language restraint. It was brave of me to take the hit instead of Joel, but to be frank, neither of us really knew it was there.

"aargh you git of a bee ... oooh crap!" And thus it was proven that I have totally given up all swearwords apart from the two widely recognised "allowable" youth pastor swearwords: because you have to say something right? If I read any letters that I wrote Liz between the age of 16 and 22 (cos we're cute and we kept them all), I am truly appalled with my ability to swear. So I am glad of this test today .. I don't swear any more.

I have to confess I am trying to eliminate the crap word, because it would just be so cool to totally NOT swear at all. The word git, for all you Canadians who have never heard it, is defined here.

Back to the sting, the bee apppeared to concentrate on poison quality rather than quantity. The pain was excruciating for a while, and much worse if I touched my toe. Then the endorphins kicked in very very well, if I had been standing at that point, I would have floated gently into a lying position on a bed of clouds and feathers. My brain went a bit fluffy.

So we went to buy me a new pair of flip flops, and I will wear them in the backyard.

what does it mean to encounter God?

2006-06-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

historymaker : an encounter with God as part of the discipleship process.

I was asked by a man with a TV camera to answer the question : "how have you encountered God?" This is a cool question and got me thinking about a good answer. In the end I didn't get recorded by the TV camera .. probably a good thing.

However, I share a thought with you here. I have encountered God in MANY ways over the years. Through scripture, alone, with others, through others, a voice, a picture, physically, emotionally, cerebrally, in church, out of church, on the couch, at a piano/guitar, in a movie, through my surroundings, through imagination, falling off a snowboard, getting my leg plastered (separate occasion), in the shower, at a computer screen, at work, at play, at home .... oh the list is endless.

But I'm starting to really discover what it means to continually encounter God.

Faith scenario #1 : "a God encounter" followed by "walking out our life" followed by "another God encounter" followed by "more walking". Whether that's from one Sunday to the next, one summer camp to the next, one conference to the next, one devotional time to the next, one charismatic experience to the next, or something more random.

scenario #2 : The way Jesus intended was for us to walk in continual communion with the Father, and He gave His life for it to happen. So an encounter with God is the continual walking in His will and obedience.

"Of course it is!" you say. OK then, sit down and look at your life and tell me whether you model scenario 1 or 2.

If we are continually walking with God, conversing with God, choosing for God, living the totally abundant life that Jesus promised, then an encounter .. changes. Does it become less significant? Does encounter (momentary) become experience (longer) and then "the norm"? Once we're in that place of our entire life becoming an encounter with God, prayer is efficient and powerful, worship is all-pervasive. No longer are we tied to the ritual of Thanks and Sorry before Please, or Confession and Declaration before Communion, or worship before bible reading, or half an hour's devotion at the very beginning of our day, or the pre-service 5 min prayer time. We are living in the "palm of His hand", we are the "sheep of his pasture" the "chicks under His wing", and we can communicate with God 2-way at any time in whatever way is right for that moment. Our whole life is preparation for whatever comes next, and we don't feel compelled to "switch into spiritual mode" 5 mins before a worship service for that religious pre-service prayer.

Is this an excuse for license-filled laziness? Quite the opposite.

Am I there on that path of obedience at every moment? I doubt it, but I'm closer than I ever have been, and life looks very, very different.

i love my current ringtone

2006-06-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

due to distinct lack of value for money and reliable signal .. had to get a new cell phone.

current ringtone : ziggy stardust by bowie .. fabulous

the panic of a month's absence

2006-06-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

oh, help, no, help, hot sweats and panic .. that was never meant to happen .. it's june 11th. i refuse to apologise for blogging apostasy, as it causes irritation to the reader. instead some posts to help re-orientate, and re-energise. beginning with a list of "what rocked and what sucked" at Historymaker 2006 : life

rocked
- mike pilavachi's stand up comic routine with enough material for a term of youth meeting follow ups
- tree63 leading worship aswell as performing
- a song written by a room full of teenagers and sarah kelly
- the forging of a bloodstained cross by Josh Weidman
- DVDs of main sessions picked up within 30 mins of the final one!
- the team T-shirt

sucked
- Liz and Joel couldn't be there
- my first night's "sleep" on a gym floor. it was nearly non-existent
- the main events were too spacious - kamloops accomodation got booked way too early and a bunch of people couldn't get there
- this logo, was not on a t-shirt
- griffin's anvil didn't get to play again .. 2007 come on!
- I totally miss soul survivor
- daniel's straightened hair
- lack of group photos

rocked
- the weather
- cal and jordan
- borrowing 2 suburbans and a dodge caravan for luxurious transport
- gang loved mike p so much I had several requests to play it again .. so we did

Historymaker 2006 - the buildup

2006-05-08T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is Darcy, true friend, true Canadian, and true dreamer strutting his stuff 2 years ago.

This time of year is the most exciting and the most stressful, as we prepare for the long weekend in Kamloops at the end of the month for Historymaker 2006 : life. It's a cool time, and I'm really excited Mike P and Ben C (local boy coming home) will be there from Soul Survivor.

Yesterday we project managed a large fundraiser which nearly killed me and did kill Liz. It wasn't meant to be that way. But we raised a ton of money for some incredible missions stuff and helped some youth to get to the weekend. That was the aim, and it was awesome.

So 21 booked in this year - destination: gym floor for accomodation and ice rink for the main event. To see youth nailed by God in a life-changing way is always a joy - and we're praying this won't be an exception. 14 days and it will all be over as we arrive home exhausted and thoroughly happy!

tidiness or contentment?

2006-04-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

It strikes me that early in starting family life, it's important to choose either tidiness or contentment. I look across an apartment floor looking like a warzone on a saturday morning, and I realise we chose the latter.

Easter life

2006-04-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

What a way to start an Easter day - baptising 2 guys in the heavenly icy waters of the Pacific ocean. Kyle and Sam (aka Rumfeld - for reasons of clarity in the band that includes 3 sams!). One of the coolest things a youth pastor can do - baptise a couple of teenagers. We had fun, and I followed it with one of the nicest, hottest, longest showers ever.

Nice full easter sunday services with choir, joy and the word of God! The egg hunt was rained off .. boo, but we all 3 enjoyed some yummy BBQ and good company this afternoon at Franz and Lisa's. Liz managed to suppress sickness for a couple of hours, and we had some nice family time, and a touch of the homeland with some English folks.

question of the day - Good Friday

2006-04-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

So the phrase that jumped out to me was: "What shall I do .. with .. the King of the Jews?"

Pilate asked the question - but it started echoing in my head. Who else can ask this question? Think about each one: the Jews, the Romans, the people, the apostles, God the Father, Satan, Jesus himself, us, me. That debated question .. who put Jesus on the cross? All of the above, of course.

And several of these had choice about whether to let Jesus’ death go ahead – himself included. "What shall I do with the King of the Jews?" What would I have done if I was there? what do I do with the King of the Jews today? question of the day.

where's the focus this year?

2006-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Good Friday 2006 - a slight contrast to Joel's post.
We had a rich lunchtime yesterday - connecting with PAOC pastors from across the city. My predecessor at PGCC, Nick brought refreshment, challenge and enrichment in equal measures by leading us in an example of lectio divina. He drew out the difference between informational reading (we are the master of the text and we use it to increase knowledge, and particularly as pastors, gain something to "pass on") and formational reading (allowing the text to master us, put aside analysis and allow God to speak - which I guess if we really believe 2Tim3:16 we should make sure we do a lot more!).

we went through 4 slow readings of a passage of Scripture: 1st reading) allow God to highlight a phrase or word, then spend some time mulling it over; 2nd reading) what is God inviting you to through this word/phrase 3rd) what is your response to God 4th) rest in the presence of God -no mulling/thinking allowed.

We did this as a group, responding individually. It took about 20mins and I have to say it was profound. Nick chose Mark 15:6-15 as part of Holy week. The phrase I felt God highlighted to me I’m going to post separately 'cos it got me thinking. He spoke to me a load about leadership. Bizarrely, Nick had the same phrase highlighted and was also spoken to about leadership .. we’re obviously on a similar journey right now!

Another thought Nick brought to us was: "this Easter, which of the characters in the Easter story are you thinking about" (other than Jesus of course). Bizarrely again, Nick and I are both thinking about Mary the mother of Jesus this year .. perhaps as both our wives are pregnant again, highlighting motherhood - perhaps we have a subliminal desire to go Catholic? For me perhaps the most poignant and striking scene in "The Passion of the Christ" is where Mary sees her son through an archway dragging the cross and barely walking, and there are a few flashbacks of family life from many years before .. wow. What was it like for her to watch her son go through that day, we simply cannot imagine .. but it has to be worth thinking about. Think about it in the context of the magnificat.

Who’s your character this year? Peter, John, Mary Magdelene, Barabbas, Pilot, Caiaphas, Simon of Cyrene, the centurion.

My 'honourable mention' has to be Joseph of Aramathea when I read from Mark 15 this morning.

43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.

That was a risky request wasn’t it? What was he thinking? What would everyone think of him? Worship and sacrifice in an incredible moment as he "went boldly to Pilate"

Sites Unseen - Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Link Portal

2006-04-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

Sites Unseen - Earth's Mightiest Alternative Christian Link Portal

this looks awesome - two cyber librarians helping us through the increasing mass that is the internet. not browsed much through the links, but it's definitely del.icio.us'd

thanks to marko for publishing the link

an oasis of peace in the city - photos too

2006-04-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

i sit in caffe artigiano, hornby st, THE place for coffee in vancouver, i type on the sleek tungsten E2. a consistently perfect tall Latte both in looks and taste. black coffee would seem wrong, as one misses the artistry. Perhaps an americano to take out shrouded in the paper cup (standard accessory in the city!). (ed:the porcelain cup i had was way cooler than the one pictured, but i would not have been so cool to get my camera out in the cafe!). my lemon bar seems to be totally icing sugar and egg yoke with a sniff of lemon - evidently designed to entice you towards a second cup and drown the sweetness. it works.

i am thoroughly appreciating a small selfish oasis in a crazy life. i feel i have become "kitsified" of late, and a wander downtown with camera and ipod soundtrack is just wonderful (introducing kt tunstall in the ears this morning - a gift from one of my favourite scots, bro in law alan, also inxs, radiohead and damien rice .. nice). the light is rather vancouver grey, so i'm not expecting photographic genius .. but a chance to get to know my D50 a little better and practice. (view shots here)

to my right an annoying 30ish well-suited business genius talks a little over-loud about a projected 500million in sales - clothing or accessories by the sound of it. ahead I can't help wondering about the sexual orientation of each of the male black-clad baristas. Other conversation drifts happily into the cafe ambience - a mix of young and old, friends, couples, moms with babes, working meetings, newspaper breaks, hanging out, meeting up - delightful.

I'd like to dwell longer here, but I have a family to return to, and mondays give a fabulous opportunity to hang out with my two (three?) favourite people in the world. so home, before the rain sets in. americano on the way out? yeah i think so!

the universe of blog holes unearths a gem

2006-04-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

now i only took up blogging again with the STRICT guidelines that I would not get sucked into the virtual blog hole. sadly i have just spent 3 solid hours on totally relevant, life giving, thought provoking, youth pastor bloggy stuff. but now it's midnight sunday, and sleep is vital in the current phase of life.

if you're a christian youth leader, then i dare you to click this link and come away before 3 hours are up. it's the vital questions of the day thrown around the globe. if you're not a youth leader, it will serve you very little, and you should find a more worthwhile activity.

so here's one vital little quote I share with you from in amongst all the comments and banter:

"We can’t deposit a faith that is timeless into kids but rather must help them know how to rediscover Jesus at each turn of their life."

if there are a bunch of teenagers who catch that, and i helped, i've been obedient.

urban toddler training

2006-03-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

liz forced to visit our fantastic (seriously, we mean this, she's so wonderful) dentist today. this gave joel and i 20 mins significant urban survival training. topics covered today:
1) sidewalk good .. road bad. dad always positions himself between joel and traffic.
2) walking better than running in urban environments unless on an organised marathon or fun run.
3) dogs, people and lamposts all good to be smiled at, but the lampposts aren't designed to smile back.
4) red lights, green lights, big orange hands, little walking white men, and electronic cuckoo sounds all provide vital clues to survival.
5) large stone staircases don't always have to be climbed up or down

patiently waiting for the crossing signal was fun as he seriously worked out he could stop traffic by pressing a button - "this is better than ejecting DVDs, I have real power!". total excitement as he watched traffic lights turn from red to green and all the cars moved again - just what dad said would happen. great job little guy!

a weekend of church

2006-03-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

Of course, every weekend is a "weekend of church" because church is a people (not a building), and we're totally part of the people. However this particular weekend was a weekend of church in a building with other church people!

Youth group was great on friday night, if a little small in number. The subject was yeast - excellent bread (thrown together by ...
cal and kai )
baked as we explored together, and consumed with honey at the end of the night. Explore the bible on the significance of yeast in every passage except Matt13, then read Matt13:33. Watching the faces was great, and gave us an idea of the reaction that Jesus would have seen. urrr, hang on .. isn't yeast all about ..?

Sat am, leadership day. Joining core of PGCC and UTown together for some story sharing and envisioning with much food (what lent fasting!?). pm hanging out with timmy a bit - timmy's ace. Sat night worship, prayer and general fun with a bunch of us. This morning, Jeff did a great job with flowing worship on topic, Pharisee and Tax collector brought alive by Lawrence, and some prophetic stuff around Psalm 40. A weekend of church doesn't always fill me with glee, but this was cool, and I feel grateful for the gift of a Monday day off - it ain't like that when you work mon-fri.

Tom is (pt6) .. ESFJ

2006-03-22T21:45:00.000-08:00

so I guess this explains a little of who I am. It's been many years since completing the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I recommend it. But remember it's an indicator of preferences, not a box to be shoved in!
show a picture of an ESFJ
Belbin team roles: teamworker, resource investigator, completer finisher.
combine all this information with a totally pressured and chaotic life bursting at the seams, and I understand why I have a constant headache!

Tom is (pt5) .. a boy

2006-03-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

Boys love gadgets, so here's my list. If we ran out of food and income, I would choose to sell them off in reverse order (starting at 5!) Perhaps you'd like to order your own list in comments.

1. iPod 20Gb (Feb 2004)
4thG classic. trusty companion through joy and sorrow - a true soundtrack to life
2. Nikon D50 and Canon A40 (Feb 2006 and Feb 2003)
18-55, 55-200 Nikkor lenses. The A40 awakened a passion for photgraphy that no-one knew was there and took us by surprise. The D50 takes all that and amplifies it to new levels as I pursue the ultimate shots.
3. Palm Tungsten E2 (Feb 2006)
together with it's friend the fold-out keyboard it becomes a truly portable extension to my mind. It lets me download information into it, and then kindly and gently reminds me to use that information at a later date.
4. Dell 8200 notebook (Feb 2003)
the most reliable performance we have ever had in a PC - a workhorse that's fab to use wireless around the apartment, church, hotel etc. but a bit chunky for true portability
5. Motorola cell phone of indestructible nature and unknown model number
I enjoyed our first 18 months in Canada cell-less, which was surprisingly wonderful. They're really helpful things, but almost removed from gadget status to appliance IMO

Frankly I'm awaiting the day of a true iPod, Palm, cell phone combo: affordable, reliable, longlasting, without compromise in any area - we're not far off I guess, but 3 units is still the way to go today.

Honourable mention in this list has to go to Claude the 100 yr old Bechstein upright piano, and George the 2003 Garrison acoustic guitar. Not gadgets per se, but essential life companions. They would never be sold for food, I'd rather die of hunger in musical heaven!
Tom is (pt6) .. ESTJ

Tom is (pt4) .. English

2006-03-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting observation that will be news to almost all of you. It's probably fairly unique to my generation and to those of us that have emmigrated from England. While growing up in England, we were heavily conditioned to consider ourselves "British" and from "The United Kingdom". While on holiday abroad and asked where we were from we'd pipe up with "the UK".

As we merge into Canadian culture (rapidly becoming a global mix in the urban multicultural glory of Vancouver), our Englishness re-emerges from our Britishness, and I will always now answer "England". Please comment if you've noticed this, and conduct your own field tests with English tourists vs immigrants.

On opening my mouth, it's hard to hide the Home Counties English accent .. and yet of course as any immigrant or tourist from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand knows, we are often mistaken for each other (by an American or Canadian). If I had a penny for the number of times someone has asked "are you from Australia?", I'd have bought Liz a very large cake by now. Of course I do wear billabong and quiksilver quite a bit. Luckily Aussie Tim often gets asked if he's English, so I think it balances out OK.

One last mention in this particular post must go to vocabulary. Canadian English is of course distinct, and mixes American and British English rather confusingly. There is a certain pride that some standards have been maintained from the extreme US bastardisation of the world's most confusing and wonderful language. Most notably the letter "Zed" is still in tact. However when I say I'm tired, surely I'm not meaning that I have new rubber wheels fitted? Feel free to read more in wikipedia (the internet's most inticing timewaster).

A fundamental issue that is currently threatening the life expectancy of our dear Joel, does not even get a mention in the internet pages on this topic. When I say "stay on the pavement", the poor boy runs right out into the middle of the road, as any good, honest and obedient Canadian should. To all that are hoping we will hang on to beautifully crafted English, we apolgoise. For reasons of familial longevity, and also simply to be understood, we are having to adapt a little. Actually, I have to commend our North American friends for the accuracy of the term sidewalk . It is unambiguous, conclusive and descriptive, and very easy to establish its meaning, even if you've never been shown one before.

The Youth Group particularly want me to maintain some of my great English standards. The terms "faff about" and "whinge" are TOTALLY foreign to canadians, but they love 'em! And just you try going a week in youth ministry without using both of those terms ;o)

This post is brought to you (I hope) entirely in English English, apart from the necessary quote of sidewalk. Please Ed, Matt, or any other true Englanders, check the work thoroughly to ensure I still am able. There will be very few pure posts on this blog!
Tom is (pt5) .. a boy

Tom is (pt3) .. a youth pastor

2006-03-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

The calling of God is totally amazing: scary yet confident, assured yet fragile, exciting yet tedious, unstoppable yet attacked, all-consuming yet imperceptible, complete yet unboxable. If you take issue with paradox, then you probably want to steer clear of Jesus – his testimony of himself is just the beginning – fully God and fully man.

I heard one preacher bring alive the calling of God as “the fire within is greater than the fire without”. If you’re a Christian and you’re doing all that Jesus has called you to, you know exactly what that feels like!

God has called Liz and I to this city at this time for his purposes. Of that we are certain, and the reasons are too numerous for this post. The stories actually go back even before we knew each other (25 years+), and before we’d ever set foot in this awe-inspiring city – Vancouver, British Columbia. Our love affair with Vancouver is now into its 10th year, and the journey has not been a simple one, but totally God-led.

So here we are, working with youth (10-18 year olds) in Vancouver. This is not a career move, or a money spinner, or a business. This is not a temporary assignment, an internship or a project. This is not a hobby, or a pastime, or a vacation. This is life in all its fullness (John10:10). This is life in totality, both in intensity and timeline. Missionaries to Vancouver from 4,500 miles away? Absolutely. Does Vancouver need missionaries? Absolutely. Does Vancouver need a huge crowd of passionate youth changing the world around them and seeing God’s kingdom come and his will being done? Absolutely.

barman to bar manager to office boy to marketing specialist to church-worker to IT helpdesk to email specialist to . . . the rest of my life.

There I was in August 2004 earning a good salary in one of the world’s greatest banks downtown Vancouver, helping out as as a volunteer youth leader in our small church youth group. One of a team of 4 looking after the Canadian email infrastructure, I used to stare out of the window like Mr Thomas Anderson going “there is more to life than this”.
(OK so I’m no messiah, but I’m really good friends with one ;o)

Currently “more to life” looks like this: Youth Pastor at Point Grey Community Church and Utown church. What an incredible opportunity, and not one to be taken lightly. I love to work with a great bunch of youth and youth leaders attached to PGCC, and also with 10+ other churches in the area. I’m not particularly thrilled about the history of “the westside” of Vancouver: it’s not nearly full enough of God’s plans. So between us all we are aiming to make some history that looks a ton more “God-inspired”. I also love to work with families, schools, community centres, other youth-focussed groups. Dreams are big, reality can be frustratingly slow, but if I can see a bunch of genuine Canadian History Makers released into the fullness of who they are, I’ve done my job. It’s happening!

If you look at what we’re doing through most worldviews we are totally nuts (although there are others equally nuts and pioneering in the heart of Vancouver I’d like to point out. here, here, here, here, here and here just for starters!). If you take a little time to read the story of God, and recognise that the story continues to be written through eternity, there is simply one worldview that actually works out. As a friend says so poetically: “in the story of God, I am a pencil”. My desire is to be sharp, bold, and always available when needed :o)
Tom is (pt4) .. English

Tom is (pt2) .. a family man

2006-03-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

Son of Robert and Elizabeth, brother of Will and Anna, husband of Liz and father of Joel. 13 first cousins, 4 uncles, 5 aunts and no grandparents. Are we related to the Sopwith Camel? Absolutely. Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith was my Great Grandfather’s cousin, and definitely my hero.

While continuing on this 6-part self-portrayal, I can’t help reflecting on who I’d be if I wasn’t a husband and father. I have been best friends with Liz for 20 years, and married to her for more than a third of my life. I can safely say that without her, half of me wouldn’t exist, and I’m totally chuffed we got together. Joel hasn’t been around so long, but one thing EVERYONE said before he was born is “your life will never be the same again”. They were so right. Both Liz and Joel sleep right now – Monday lunchtime! I am enjoying the solitude for a few minutes, but cannot authentically imagine life without them. We tried being apart last October for 3 weeks as they visited England without me – it was horrible, and I do not intend for a repeat.
Tom is (pt3) .. a youth pastor

Tom is (pt1) .. a Christian

2006-03-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

If this fact does not fuel the remainder of my self-definition, this whole blog and my life, then perhaps it fails to be ‘fact’ and demotes to ‘wish’. Hence it has to be first in the series of “Tom is ..” and foundational.

It automatically sends my head spinning with potential reactions to the statement. You who read are all coming from an individual context, some Christians, some not, all with a distinct version of what a Christian is and isn’t. So perhaps I will not attempt to define further right now.

Belonging to a denomination? Born again? Fundamental? Liberal? Charismatic? Orthodox?

If you know me well, I hope that you know what “kind” of Christian I am, and who I am trying to become. As this blog continues, I’m sure the picture will build. If you really want to know more right now, the comments are there for you to probe further :)
Tom is (pt2) .. a family man

prologue - or is that pro-blog?

2006-03-11T23:04:00.001-08:00

blogs can be (ab)used for so many purposes. Surely the most successful individual blog provides a window into the life and thoughts of an individual. A public diary .. yes .. but so much more. An output from the journey, the ramblings of the mind, and a chance to catch up in sopwithworld (tom flavour).

My hope, as you browse here, that you discover the same Tom as you would over beer or coffee and a couple of sweet hours. I have thoroughly appreciated sharing in the lives of significant friends via their blogs where distance and time have prevented the luxury of a closer communication. I hope you will echo that appreciation by dwelling here for a while.

To begin, I undertake a slightly bizarre multi-part self analysis by way of introduction and context setting. It also reminds me who I am .. the order is unimportant, except that part 1 is definitely first .. the rest of me certainly flows from there.

Tom is (pt1) .. a Christian
Tom is (pt2) .. a family man
Tom is (pt3) .. a youth pastor
Tom is (pt4) .. English
Tom is (pt5) .. a boy
Tom is (pt6) .. ESFJ

2006-03-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

intentions of a re-launch are currently high as I continue to value the wonderful blogs of those around me ...

empty blogs remind me of grey november days ... disappointing and offering little in the way of opportunity

for one major reason why the content is lacking check out the latest at http://joelsopwith.blogspot.com ;o)