friends of sacred heart

Back in Blog Land!

2008-07-10T10:42:00.002-06:00

We were having computer issues that, for some reason, made it impossible for me to access either this blog or Darrin's travel blog on our home computer. Very frustrating! Anyway, thanks to my brother in law Wayne - it seems to be resolving! I've been catching up on Darrin's latest posts. If you haven't read his blog at www.nilebeginnings.blogspot.com recently - I encourage you to check it out. He is having some amazing experiences and has posted some great pics.

I also want to Brett a very happy 14th birthday today! Love you Brett!

Nile Beginnings

2008-06-17T19:23:00.004-06:00

Darrin is leaving on Friday for a three week trip to Israel and Uganda. He will be attending a global Anglican conference in Israel for one week and will then be spending two weeks in Uganda. He was invited by the archbishop of Uganda and Prison Fellowship Uganda to work with them in prison ministry, as well as teach their volunteers. He is also scheduled for some speaking engagements. It is an amazing opportunity, and we are very excited to see what this brings...

Darrin has put together a travel blog which he is hoping to update regularly while on the trip. Feel free to check out www.nilebeginnings.blogspot.com

Keep him in your prayers for the next three weeks!
Lisa

Tim Hawkins - Corporations Taking Over Churchs

2008-02-14T12:18:00.001-07:00

And yet another engagement!!!

2008-02-11T16:20:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Tavis and Chryslyn, who got engaged yesterday! We are very excited for them and wish them every happiness! For the details check out Tavis' blog on our list of blogs to the right. It sounds like they had an amazing day!

Water woes!

2008-02-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

We have been informed that there has been a watermain break on the street that our church building is on. As a result, we have no water and will not be having a church service tomorrow, Feb. 10 2008. It should be repaired within a few days and church should be as usual next week. Sorry for any inconvenience and we'll see you next week!

Also - we had a great visit with Bishop Sean this week. Thanks to Sharon, Chad, Tavis and Chryslyn (as well as Saska and Mira) for hosting the Bishop for their Survivor party!

Winter Woes

2008-01-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

Here is a photo of the highway by our house, as taken a few minutes ago by the AMA weather cameras. I know those of us living here are all in the same boat, but for those of you living elsewhere, you can feel sorry for us. It is very cold, snowing, and blowing and drifting snow. There is no purpose for this post, other than to complain. :-) There, now I feel better.
Lisa

Lisa Loeb Plays for Mark in IKEA

2008-01-22T16:39:00.001-07:00

Too funny - maybe I should try this as a new technique for marriage counselling! Lisa

Rich Mullins Screen Door

2008-01-11T20:36:00.001-07:00

I love this! Lisa

Merry Christmas from the Parkin Family!

2007-12-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

Have coffee with us Dec. 23!

2007-12-16T23:11:00.000-07:00

We will be meeting at the church at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 23. We are hoping any old "Sacred Hearters" who may be in Lethbridge for the holidays will join us so we can catch up. Hope to see you then - but if not, we wish you many blessings for the Christmas season and throughout the new year!

No church this Sunday

2007-11-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

... we'll be back to business as usual the following Sunday...

Another Engagement!

2007-10-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

For those of you who know Alisha Glover, you can celebrate with us at the news of her engagement to Tyler. She is such a special person and we have so enjoyed her involvement in our community. We are missing her while she is doing her internship with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Vancouver. We are wishing Alisha and Tyler all of God's blessings on their life together as they take this next step!

No Church this Sunday

2007-10-03T09:31:00.000-06:00

Due to people being away for the long weekend, we will not have a service this Sunday. Services will resume as usual at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14.
We had a great visit with the Bishop! Darrin and I felt very ministered to, which was great for us. Thanks to all who came out Monday evening for a visit and dessert.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Bishop Sean to visit!

2007-09-26T21:26:00.000-06:00

Our bishop, Sean Larkin, from England is the fellow to the left. He will be coming for a visit to Sacred Heart from Oct. 1-3. We'll be having a get together at our home on Monday, Oct. 1 at 7:00 p.m. for desserts/snacks and conversation. Bring some food, some questions, and we'll see you then!

Russian Coal Mine

2007-09-20T21:36:00.001-06:00

Good News!!

2007-09-07T16:17:00.000-06:00

We are thrilled to let you know that Jodi Vander Woude and Kevan Berg are now engaged! Apparently, Kevan popped the question in Taiwan and the response from Jodi was "of course!" They are considering a wedding for next summer. Jodi is so special to our community, and has been a pillar for us for several years. We are missing her terribly while she continues her education in Ontario. We want Jodi and Kevan to know that they have our love and support as a community as they move into this new and exciting time in their lives. Please feel free to pass on your congratulations!

Services Resumed!

2007-09-05T20:48:00.000-06:00

A reminder that we are resuming Sunday services starting this Sunday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. We meet at 323 4th St. South in Lethbridge for Holy Communion and Worship. See you then!

Megan and Aaron's wedding!

2007-08-15T13:04:00.001-06:00

We had the honour and priviledge of attending Megan and Aaron's wedding on Saturday, August 11. It was a beautiful ceremony and such a reflection of their personalities. We have so much enjoyed watching their relationship grow and mature over the last few years. It was such a joy to be able to be part of the celebration of their wedding.

These two are an amazing couple and we are sure they have an amazing future ahead of them!

On behalf of the community of Sacred Heart, we want to pass on lots of love and blessings to these two as they begin their married life together. We also want them to know that they have the ongoing support and love from our community.

Sacred Heart BBQ

2007-07-26T11:27:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed a (finally!) cooler evening enjoying Darrin's marinated rotisserie roast beef and the many other delicious salads and desserts brought by everyone. It was great to catch up on how everyone's summer has been going. Chad and Sharon are in the process of building a house (and Darrin is enjoying every moment of teasing them about becoming suburban capitalists). We had fun helping them choose siding and trim colours. They, as well as Tavis and Chryslyn are off to the Calgary Folk Fest this weekend. We are all very excited about Aaron and Megan's wedding coming up on August 11. For some reason, those two love birds felt the need for some alone time and went off to feed the horses for us (hmmmm...... can't image two almost newlyweds wanting time alone....) It was great to see Dana again - who has been too much of a stranger as of late - and we have not had nearly enough of a chance to tease him about, well, whatever we can think of at the moment. There was even a little time to play the Wii - and I will never make comments about Megan's golf game again! (no comments from you either Tavis!) All in all, a very good evening. I think I'm still full.

We plan to have another one the end of August, so let us know if you'd like to come and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop.

Change of Date for BBQ

2007-07-19T11:47:00.000-06:00

We are still having a Sacred Heart gathering and BBQ, but we've changed the date. It will now be on July 25 at 7:00 p.m. at our house. Please bring a salad or dessert and some beverages to contribute. You will be treated to Darrin's (rapidly becoming famous) rotisserie marinated roast beef. See you then!

Happy Birthday Carlin!

2007-07-16T13:12:00.000-06:00

Today is Carlin's 16th birthday!

It is hard to believe time has gone by that quickly, but it is true that we have a 16 year old son.

We are so proud of Carlin - all of his accomplishments, and the person he is. He gets amazing marks in school, has been on Student's Council since elementary school, and is a natural leader. He has a strong sense of who he is, has definite opinions about his beliefs and values, and is able to articulate those opinions very well. He has a good sense of what he wants to accomplish in life, and how he's going to get there.

We are always very proud of choices Carlin makes and how he lives out his faith in his day to day life.

Have a wonderful day Carlin! We love you very much!

2007-07-10T18:03:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETTIN!

Today is Brett's 13th birthday! We are very proud of the young man he is becoming. He loves sports, especially lacrosse, friends, animals and his family. He is full of energy, fun and new ideas. He's always willing to try new things and he's always willing to stick up for the "underdog".

Brett - we love you, we are proud of you , and we wish you all of God's blessings! Now that you are officially a teenager - go easy on us! :-) Love, Mom and Dad

2007-07-10T16:13:00.000-06:00

Darrin officiated another wedding this past weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony held at the Fritz residence. The groom, Shane Trowbridge, is the step son of Darrin's sister Christine (photo to the left). She was so obviously proud of both of them and there were more than a few tissues being passed around.

Darrin really enjoys doing weddings and does such a great job (in my unbiased opinion!) of making the wedding personal and meaningful for the couple. The bride, Abbey, and her sister (the maid of honour, Grace) had been in a car accident a week before the wedding. They both recovered, thankfully, and everything went very well.

They are a wonderful couple and we wish them all the best in their life together!

God bless you Shane and Abbey!

Church Summer Schedule

2007-06-19T10:05:00.000-06:00

We will not be holding church services throughout the summer. Most current "Sacred Hearters" will be away most of the summer, so we get the summer off! There will be services resuming in the fall, which we will post closer to that time.

In the meantime, we will be getting together a couple times over the summer to stay connected. We'll be having a potluck and BBQ at our house on July 19. If you'd like to come, drop us an email at dparkin@xplornet.com for details.

Our blog has been neglected the past while for two reasons - our digital camera seems to have died, and we've succumbed to the social pressure to join facebook :-) We will still post important updates.

Still looking for homes for kittens.......

Kittens to Give Away!

2007-06-04T16:31:00.000-06:00

We are still hoping to find good homes for our three litters of kittens. They are already doing well with being litter trained. The first litter, which was born just after Easter is now weaned.

The one to the left has the funniest mustache, which is cute since it's female. We are tempted to call her Adolph, but just can't let ourselves do that. Darrin has taken to calling her Gustave. They are very playful and the kids have made sure that they are used to people. (OK so maybe Darrin and I had something to do with that as well.) One of the little black and white ones fell asleep on Darrin's shoulder the other night. Anyway - please ask people you know if they would like a new pet and let us know if there are any takers. Thank you!

Also - Brett and Sierra had their spring concert at their school on Friday. Sierra was in the choir and her class did an excellent job singing part of the "Treasure Island" story. It is hard to find her, but she is in the front row, just to the right of her teacher (in the black suit) and she is wearing a blue and white striped shirt.

This is Brett as Long John Silver. His class acted out the story of Treasure Island and Sierra's class (as well as several other classes) sang. It was a great production and I was so proud of them both! You'll have to ask Brett to do his pirate accent for you sometime.

No Church this Sunday

2007-05-18T15:14:00.000-06:00

Due to the long weekend - and the very Canadian habit of going away for May long weekend - there will be no one around for church this Sunday. Enjoy your long weekend and we will see you back for service on Sunday, May 27 at 10:00 a.m.

New Life... and other signs of Spring!

2007-05-14T11:57:00.000-06:00

This is the view that greets us every morning from our bathroom window. It's such a great start to the day. I wish the blooms lasted longer. I LOVE where we live! I feel very blessed.

On Thursday evening - May 11 - my youngest brother and his wife, Ken and Lana, had a new baby boy! They have two daughters, Santana and Sadie, and now a new son named Javin Seth. He is healthy and doing well, as is Lana. Lana was very brave and attended Santana's ballet recital two days after giving birth. We attended as well and Tana was adorable!

On the subject of new life - we are still hoping to find new homes for some of our kittens. Here is the first litter who are now getting old enough to be playful and fun:

There are six of them and they are just too cute for words!

Here is a new litter. The mom (Jetta) must have snuck in the house when we were on our way to a lacrosse game last weekend. We came home to find new kittens in Sierra's room. Sierra was thrilled (me...not so much!) There are four of these kittens and they are now just starting to open their eyes after a week. We've moved them into the garage near the older kittens. The older kittens come and snuggle with the newer ones when the moms are out. It's so cute!

And, one more sure sign of spring - trampolines and sprinklers! This is at my sister's house - her three boys and Sierra. Too much fun!

BTW - Brett's team came in fourth place over all in the bantam division in the Floorbuster's tournament - two wins, one tie and one loss. Brett scored a couple of awesome goals. Special thanks to Megan and Arlene who attended the morning game on Saturday morning. They probably saw a different side of me being a lacrosse mom. :-) It was a pretty intense game - our team was down three goals and came back to tie it in the last four minutes. Brett's goal was the first of those three goals that tied the game.

Also - thanks to my sister and brother-in-law Shelley and Wayne, and their three boys Jared, Logan and Adam as well as my Dad (Opa) for attending the afternoon game on Sunday. They squeaked by in a one goal win and it was a pretty intense game as well. Brett appreicated all of the support!

Floorbusters!

2007-05-10T18:58:00.000-06:00

Brett will be in a lacrosse tournament this weekend, called "Floorbusters". Anyone who would like to come and watch a game is more than welcome. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, May 11 5:00-6:30 at the Labor Club
Saturday, May 12 10:15-11:45 at the Lethbridge Soccer Centre (East Field)
Saturday, May 12 4:30-6:00 p.m. at the Adams Arena

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARRIN!

2007-05-09T08:58:00.000-06:00

This picture was taken last night when it was still Sierra's birthday. Darrin just put in this hitching post in front of our house. It was a perfect evening for enjoying the horses, the dogs, the cats..... Darrin is 39 today by the way! You'll have to give him a hard time about that. :-)
In honour of this special day, here is a little "Darrin photo gallery":

This photo was taken this past Christmas when we had our pajama party in front of the fireplace downstairs for Christmas eve. Even the dogs were allowed to be part of the celebrations. Of course everyone who knows Darrin well knows what a soft spot he has for those dogs. They are never hurting for attention when Darrin is around.
To the right is Christmas morning with his new "Tony Soprano" robe and opening his new p.j.'s.

This photo was taken this past summer at a family reunion. Darrin is enjoying some "beverages" in front of the campfire with my cousin Vince.

To the right is also from the same family reunion. Darrin is such a great uncle. Our neices and nephews always know when "Uncle D" is around there will be some chasing, tickles, teasing - and other good Uncle -type activities.

Well Darrin - even though you are only one year from 40 - life goes on! :-) (I'm still 38 so I'm milking this for all it's worth!)

Have an amazing day! We love you and wish you all the best of God's blessings today and throughout this year.

Love, Lisa, Carlin, Brettin, and Sierra (and the animals of course.....)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIERRA!

2007-05-08T11:23:00.000-06:00

Sierra turned 11 years old today! This is from this morning as she is looking at her new book from Mom and waiting for the bus. In honour of this very special day, here is a little "Sierra Photo Gallery":

Here is Sierra and her favorite teddy - Christmas 05.

To the right is at the campfire at a family reunion this past summer.

Christmas 06 - our fun Christmas Eve at the river.

To the right is probably my all time favorite photo of Sierra with Taco. Sierra loves animals and is always the first to help with them and give them lots of love and attention.

We are so proud of our daughter! She just had a note sent home from her teacher letting us know what a pleasure she is to teach, how helpful she is and how kind she is to other students. She has a wonderful sense of humour, an adventurous nature, and a sensitive heart.

Sierra - WE LOVE YOU!!! God bless you today and always.

Love, Mom and Dad, Carlin and Brettin (and all the animals which are too numerous to mention by name....)

LAX ROX!

2007-05-07T10:23:00.000-06:00

Interpretation of this title for those who are not fluent in "lacrossese" - Lacrosse Rocks!

We are in full swing with lacrosse season again. This is the third year that Brett has played. It is his first year in Bantam and there is some pretty big kids in that age group! He plays for the Lethbridge team, "Paul's Flooring Gaits" and is number 16. They are the team in the red jersys in this picture. Brett is in the centre of the picture, although you can't see his number. So far, they have a record of two wins and two losses. This past weekend we were in Medicine Hat for two games. The first game they won 12-1. Brett got his first goal of the season as well as an assist. They lost the second game but did really well considering they only had a short one-hour break between games.

Our lives tend to revolve around lacrosse for most of May and June, but we enjoy it. Brett loves the game and it is really fun to watch! This coming weekend there will be a tournament in Lethbridge, called Floorbusters. We'll post times/locations of games and anyone is welcome to come watch if you'd like!

Sacred Heart Reunion

2007-05-01T23:22:00.000-06:00

We had a great time on Sunday! Kevan and Leah surprised us by attending the service, along with Kevan's sister, Jenna, and her friend Dave. Since Kevan and Leah moved to Airdrie, we don't get to see much of them anymore. I guess you don't realize how much you miss someone until you unexpectedly see a smiling face walk through the door.... Thanks for the surprise guys - it made our day! You both have been so important to us and to Sacred Heart. We miss you!
We had a great lunch after the service at the Mongolie Grill. They give a discount for church groups there on Sundays. You are supposed to bring your church bulletin, but since we didn't have one we asked if it works that we brought our pastor. We got the discount. We were joined for lunch by Kim and her boys (as well as a friend), Chad and Sharon, Aaron and Megan, Arlene, Kevan and Leah, Jenna and Dave as well as Kevan and Jenna's brother Matt, Matt's girlfriend, and Matt's girlfriend's neice and nephew. Tavis and Chryslyn were off to Waterton after church.
It was a great day....

So much to tell.....

2007-04-16T13:09:00.000-06:00

Happy Belated Easter from the Parkin Family! This was taken the day before Easter at my (Lisa's) parents home where we gathered for Easter dinner.

My parents have 16 grandchildren (and one on the way - my sister-in-law Lana is expecting on Sierra's birthday - May 8th!). So, it was a busy household that day. Here is a photo of "Uncle D" (as my neices and nephews call Darrin) catching our neice Sadie. Uncle D was the main attraction for the youngest ones....

... As I mentioned in my last post, we were gone the week after Easter on a trip for Darrin's work as Senior Provincial Chaplain. I didn't get a chance to post a blog entry before we left, but I did want to say something about Easter Sunday at Sacred Heart. We were able to join our service with the congregation we share our building with, Streets Alive. Although our two congegrations have different styles and personalities, we had a great time together! Streets Alive suggested we do our regular liturgy, as they were joining us at our regular time of 10:00 a.m. Darrin preached the sermon and we had our usual Communion service. The music was a collaboration of Arlene from our congregation and a group of musicians from Streets Alive. That went very well - they sounded great!

The day after Easter we left for a trip to Edmonton, Peace River, and Red Deer for Darrin's job (see the previous post for more details). We had a great week away! We came home to a brand new litter of kittens from our cat Sharky. If you read my previous post, you will know that we had a dramatic delivery of the last kitten in our house after we thought she was done giving birth. If you are squeamish, don't look at the next picture. But, for the brave - here is the last kitten born on our bedroom carpet minutes after it came into the world:

Here is the rest of the litter, shortly after their birth.

Any takers for some free, adorable kittens?

One more item to note:

We had the most beautiful rainbow over the farm where we live yesterday:

Can you see why we LOVE living there?

Back from the North... and other interesting news!

2007-04-14T21:26:00.000-06:00

We have been gone all week - we tagged along with Darrin on a work-related trip. As Senior Provincial Chaplain, part of his job is to visit the other Chaplains at other correctional centres in the province for supervisory purposes. This past week we traveled to Edmonton, Peace River, and Red Deer - 2355 Km in five days! Thanks to a portable DVD player, we all managed. Actually, we had fun - especially at West Edmonton Mall. The above photo is the kids with "Benny" the Sea Lion. And, yes he is actually touching Sierra's head with his "kiss". We also squeezed in a visit with Darrin's Dad and Aunt Mary in Sundre on the way back. Darrin found out all kinds of interesting things about family history - maybe he'll blog it sometime. We came home today to discover that one of our cats, Sharky, had her kittens. We will blog more later as our computer is not letting us upload photos right now for some reason.

BUT WAIT....... VERY EXCITING UPDATE!!!!!

Literally as I was typing that Sharky had come into the house looking for food, and decided to give birth to one more kitten on our bedroom floor!!! One more healthy kitten was born just moments ago. Darrin managed to scoop up the new kitten and Sierra got Sharky and they returned both to the other kittens in the garage of the trailer near our house. Now there are a total of six new, healthy, adorable, still wet kittens with their eyes still closed. It looks like four are black and white, one calico and one dark and gray and white.

Free kittens anyone? No - seriously - we will be looking for homes when they are weaned.

More later with photos.....
Hopefully the rest of our evening will be less eventful!
See some of you tomorrow.

Solicitor General Hockey Tournament -Olds AB

2007-04-06T12:10:00.000-06:00

Well, here's the post you wanted. The church gave me the weekend off for our annual Solicitor General Hockey Tournament in Olds where all the Alberta Correctional Centre teams, sherriffs team, etc meet to settle who rules the Province and take home the cup. Led by our Captain Ryan Trempner off we were to Olds for the big Show.

We have not done that well as a team this last two years in either league play or at the SG. We did, however, bring home the cup in the years 2000, 2001 and 2004. So this year we were not sure how we would do even though we felt we had a fairly strong line-up.

We came out strong in the first game and beat Edmonton Remand Centre 5-2. Friday night we played Calgary Correctional Centre and beat them 5-2. So far so good, and the confidence was building. Our rivalry and nemesis team, Calgary Remand Centre, was the Saturday morning game and we had them 4-1 at the first half (2 -30 minute periods). Here's where optimism and good old Lethbridge pride set in and we came out in the second a little confident and flat. They caught up to us, and we exchanged a goal and they pulled ahead and beat us 8-5. Bruce played well in net but we weren't able to hold CRC down.

So, off to BP's to eat and of course the annual stop at the Olds liquor store (Correctional Officers you know) followed by plenty of Red Bull and energy bars. Saturday night we played the Sherriffs team, and although we felt very much in the driver's seat they proved to be a tough team indeed. the best part is that they had two gals playing for them and most of our boys were lulled into a hypnotic mesmerized state of altered consciousness by the one playing defence. Of course they did not admit this at first and instead talked big about how if on the rush they would take the left side because it would be easier to 'beat the girl'. So after she put one of our guys on his ass, took the puck and was gone before he knew what happened, the young guys decided to change their strategy with her. Then they argued over who had the best chance to check her into the boards and get her phone number. That didn't work since she was far too good in the corners (where girl hockey players aren't supposed to be good you know) and so they were left to only dream about what would never be a reality. Our young coolest gun 'Cook' was the most starstruck but I think she told him something like she wouldn't even look at a guy who wears yellow socks which of course simply gave the rest of us cannon fodder to fire at Cookie all weekend. He took it hard and gave us the salute . Anyway, we beat the sheriffs and moved on to the the last round robin game Sunday morning against Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre at an ungodly 8:15 a.m.

O.K. at this point you need to know something about this tournament and it's 32 year tradition. Hmmm... let's get 150 Correctional, sherriff, and police officers together in small town Olds Alberta with no wives and girlfriends and time off work. I wonder what they will do in their free time?

8:15 came real early Sunday. Some of our guys who went out to the famous Olds Blue Yak bar and the Country Hay City Saloon looked real green when they woke up. The funniest part of this is the story we have to tell from the festivities. Most of us stayed back at the hotel including Derek Dixon. Dixon's mistake in being smart like the rest of us is that he was rooming with the guys who went out. And so at 2:30 a.m. the boys returning decided to do a "Cell Extraction" on Dixon for being the princess who stayed home and got his beauty sleep. Cell extractions are just what they sound like ...physical removal of a non-compliant individual from his bed or cell complete with loud commands and adrenaline pumped jail guards. Word has it that Chris, Troy, and I were on the extraction list but Chris had the smarts to close the adjoining hotel room door to Dixon's room and so we were spared. But we heard it happen, as did the rest of the hotel. Here's Troy the Sherriff, also a Fort Macleod guy.

We beat the Fort Sunday morning and it had to go to a shootout. I don't think some of their guys even went to bed and if they did it might have been for an hour or so. When I lined up for the face-off against one of their centremen he complained to the ref for dropping the puck so loud.

For the semifinals we played Calgary Correctional Centre who we beat Friday and beat them in overtime to go to the finals for the cup. Here's where age and shape become the key issues of life. Waiting for the finals was a lot like cement hardening in it's forms. We consumed Red Bull, energy bars and layed around the dressing room getting stiff and sore. There was a brief moment where the fear of playing on dead legs scared Shane Kissinger into repenting and so the team asked that I become the old fashioned soap box preacher and climb aboard the cooler to convert our team sinner. It's become a yearly tradition too that I bribe Shane into paying me big money not to tell lovely Amber his wife back in Lethbridge who works at the jail how much Shane misbehaves on the weekend. This has given me the guarantee that if he ever pulls me over for speeding that's one ticket I'll never get!

For those of you wondering what a pastor is doing with a bunch of guys like this on a weekend like that let me explain. First of all it's for the fun, sports competition, and simple enjoyment of hockey. Secondly, it's the group of guys I enjoy hanging around with and have become friends with through work and work functions. Also, it's the place I believe God has planted me to grow with them as a pastor and as a friend. It's out of that that I get called when they have spiritual needs or for their weddings, or for when they need to simply vent in a confidential way some of the stuff they go through in law enforcement. In reality, most of this weekend is a lot of big talk followed by phone calls home to the family and droopy eyes by 11:00 p.m.

Back to speaking of cops, we are allowed two on our team. Shane is now a cop but was at the jail so he is grandfathered in so we still get two additional cops on the team. Colin Catonio has been with our team for years (he's a mucky-muck with the Lethbridge police) and almost our oldest guy.... sorry Colin. But, for a guy approaching 50 in a few years he has been flying on the ice. What's really cool here is that Colin and his wife Lori are expecting their first child this summer. He's been playing hockey like a 20 year old and so we're thinking he's found the strength and energy he'll need this summer!

The other police guy was my linemate Saska. Of course, what would Canadian hockey be without token representation from Finland? Saska's getting married this summer and the 'Finish fury' seemed to get faster as the tournament went on. This annoyed Shane who got slower as the games went on so Shane resurrected his nickname for Saska, "Eurotrash". The three of us made a great line together even getting our share of the goals for the team. I'm the guy with the red helmet here hoping for a pass in front of the net.

So the final game arrived 3:00 Sunday. Calgary Remand Centre had a new secret weapon this year in a new guy who could skate faster than anything we'd seen. He got 3 or 4 goals that game. We lost 6-2 and so took second place and lined up to congratulate CRC for the 2nd year in a row cup win. The rivalry continues.

My Dad and Aunt Mary came to watch Friday as Sundre is only 20 minutes away. Dad came back Sunday and visited with us in the dressing room. One of our guys, Mike Beste (good Fort Macleod stock) lived with my Dad many years ago in Rainbow Lake when Mike was getting his pipe-fitting journeyman ticket so Dad fit in with the guys having a famous Lorne story or two to tell.

It was a good weekend and we did well as a team overall. It is a weekend well worth the next day ritual for each one of us. That ritual is the Monday morning bucket of Advil followed by the boarding procedures to climb into our wheelchairs and take on the day.

Thanks for the weekend off, and next year CRC better come ready for a refreshed Lethbridge team made up of men of steel.

Darrin

The Cat Came Back!

2007-03-28T15:58:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo of two of our cats, Oliver (the orange one) and Jetta (the black one). This photo was taken this morning after Oliver survived a very traumatic experience. We realized we had not seen Oliver for a few days and were surprised when he didn't come at feeding time. We were concerned - but it IS spring, and he is male.... To make a long story shorter, we discovered that poor Oliver was trapped on top of a power pole exactly like this one:
This is the pole directly in front of our house - Oliver was on one just a little farther down the field. We are not sure how long he was up there - but it could have been up to five days. Our whole family spent a good hour last night at the bottom of that pole doing everything we could to coax him down. We even nailed an open tin of tuna to the pole. We called Fortis and they advised us not to try to get him down because he was too close to the power lines and it is extremely dangerous. Apparently people have died trying to get cats off power poles. So, after our long and unsuccessful attempt to get him down last night we gave up with broken hearts. Poor Sierra sobbed and sobbed. All we could do was hope that he would get desperate enough to get himself down.

Then..... this morning when I let the other cats in to be fed - there he was! We don't know how he got down, but we are grateful he did! The kids sure prayed that he would. He is perfectly fine, although he has lost a lot of weight. He ate a lot this morning, and we spoiled him by letting him stay in the house today. Poor thing was exhausted and hungry.

He is our Super Cat - able to leap from tall power poles in a single bound....
Who knows what other super powers lurk underneath the surface of this ordinary-looking animal? Time will tell.....

2007-03-26T14:09:00.000-06:00

Here is a photo of the visiting after the service yesterday...

I've been reminded how much I enjoy the music of Rich Mullins recently. Arlene played an "oldie" during communion yesterday - "Peace to You" by Rich Mullins and then Alisha posted one of my favorite Rich Mullins songs on her blog, "If I stand". So, then I was listening to internet radio, and they played "Sometimes by Step". I've posted the lyrics below. If you are not familiar with this artist, I encourage you to google him. He died tragically in a car accident in 1997. I think I've always found his music so authentic and sometimes raw in terms of his own journey and struggles. His music has always moved me.

Sometimes By Step by Rich Mullins

Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so much work left to do
But so much You'd already done

CHORUS:
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach

CHORUS

And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
And I will follow You all of my days
(Sometimes the night was beautiful)
And I will follow You all of my days

I felt this was a good reminder in light of Darrin's message yesterday. I find it so true that praise is the perfect antidote to the heaviness of life.

Peace to you,

Lisa

A Star is Born!

2007-03-15T13:09:00.000-06:00

Brett was in a school play yesterday. Above is a shot of him delivering his monologue as "Prince Perky of Pomegranite". He did an excellent job - remembering all of his lines and adding his own dramatic effect! We are proud of our new star. :-)

The Colour Purple

2007-03-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we are asked why we use different colours during different seasons to decorate the altar. Here is a quick explanation of why we use purple during the season of Lent:

In ancient times, purple dye was very expensive, so purple came to signify wealth, power, and royalty. Therefore purple is the colour for the seasons of Advent and Lent, which celebrate the coming of the King. Since as Christians we prepare for our King through reflection and repentance, purple has also become a penitential color. As a result, most liturgical churches (churches that use a standard liturgy or order of service, such as Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, etc.) will use the same colours and celebrate these liturgical seasons in similar ways. These traditions reach far back in terms of church history.

In regard to the tradition of repentance during Lent, Darrin shared an interesting "twist" on this during his sermon today. He encouraged us to think of repenting, not so much in terms of what we have done wrong or failed to do (although that is important too). Instead, he talked about repenting of not being open to the many ways God tries to bless us - all the times we miss His blessings because we are too wrapped up in our own stuff or not open minded enough to even see what God might be doing in our lives. Food for thought...

A Quote to Reflect on for the Season of Lent

2007-03-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

You are Christ’s Hands

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ’s compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.

–St. Teresa of Avila

On Christian Guilt...

2007-02-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that when TV and movies portray someone with a guilty conscience they often will put it in a "Catholic" context - that person going to a priest for confession? There is a reason for that - Catholics tend to be really good at guilt. I know - I am one. I was raised in a very devout Catholic family and am the only person from my family not actively practicing the Catholic faith at this point in my life. Now, before people get upset with me that I am putting one denomination down over another - I need to clarify a couple of things. One is that, in my experience of talking with people, it seems most Christian denominations are equally good at making people feel guilty. Secondly, I have a deep love and appreciation for the Catholic faith - the rich symbolism and expression of faith through the liturgy and traditions is more meaningful to me than I can even find words for. Having said that, though - I'm really good at heaping guilt on myself whether I deserve it or not. And, I suspect I am not alone in this as a Christian. Darrin likes to tease me about my "Catholic guilt" when I am beating myself up about something that is really not that big of a deal. It seems to me that in many Christian circles there tends to be an emphasis on all of the obligations of the Christian life, which leads to tremendous guilt when one does not live up to those obligations. In my profession as a counsellor, I have worked with many people who battle tremendous burdens of guilt who were raised in strong Christian homes. I am not saying that is necessarily a bad thing, I guess I just want to look at one particular outcome of this as I see it.

I think it's important to note that a healthy, balanced Christian lifestyle will involve a well developed conscience - and, therefore some guilt when one realizes they have wronged another. To me, this is healthy guilt - the God-given mechanism that tells us we've done something wrong and need to seek forgiveness, make amends, and try to not repeat that. That's ok - that's life. But, what I get concerned about is the guilt that people seem to heap upon themselves when they really haven't done any wrong - or when they can't meet the unrealistic expectations they have for themselves. The problem with this type of guilt is that it can lead to some pretty serious depression. There can be a vicious cycle of someone creating really high expectations for themselves, being unable to live up to them, feeling terrible about themselves so setting even higher expectations to make up for it, etc.

I know that I've gotten myself into this cycle before. And, I watch other Christians sometimes perpetuate this through judgementalism and putting all the focus on all the "rules" of living of a "good" Christian life. Should we strive for living the best lives we can according to God's purposes for us? Of course. But, really - do we need to look down on someone who is genuinely stumbling through their Christian journey - which means they will make some mistakes along the way? I don't think so. As much as possible, I hope we can journey together with people, offering support and encouragement along the way. In my experience I think this is possible most of the time with most people we encounter along the way. There are times, though, when you find you inevitably need to set firm and clear boundaries with people who seem unwilling or unable to acknowledge or deal with the fact that their choices and actions are harming others. In my experience, these situations are rare, and always painful and difficult when they occur. But, they will occur. Otherwise, the majority of the time, most of us are doing the best we can and need the support of Christian community as we stumble through life. I've often listened at length to people beating themselves up about past mistakes, and feeling they can no longer be accepted within the church or even by God because of those actions. I find this incredibly sad, and feel that, as Christian community, we are failing these people.

I guess the way I am trying to work through my own struggle with guilt is to focus on my own heart before God. It seems to me that this lightens a lot of these burdens. It seems that when my heart is turned towards God, I tend to make choices with my thoughts and actions that are in line with His will for me and my relationships with others (as best I can determine). I'm working on focusing on the blessings in my life and those I see in other people's lives. I don't want to judge, but encourage. Will I need to challenge myself and others at times, set boundaries at times? Yes. But, most of the time we just need to remember who we are as His creation - blessed and a blessing to others.

I welcome healthy guilt when I need it - a good kick in the pants once in a while - from God, from someone who loves me, or from myself is a good thing. So, when that happens I deal with it, seek forgiveness and move on. The rest - all that false guilt - I'm working on letting go. And, in doing that I hope other people feel from me that they are accepted, loved and seen as a blessing in my life. Because that is how it is.
Lisa

No Church This Sunday

2007-02-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Darrin will be away at a Chaplain's conference this weekend and it sounds like most people will be gone for the long weekend. We will not have a church service this Sunday, February 18. We will be back to our usual time at 10:00 a.m. the following Sunday.

A Sunday in the Life of Sacred Heart

2007-02-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for Church of the Sacred Heart, this is what you will find. We are located at 323 4th St. S. in Lethbridge, Alberta. This building was a store previously, and we have been at this location since 2000. Many "Sacred Hearters" who have moved away will remember many hours renovating this space to make it workable for church. A lot of love, time, and sweat has gone into creating an interior space that now looks like this:
We have shared this space with Streets Alive Mission for the past several years, which has worked out very well. We are located downtown in Lethbridge, which enables Streets Alive to pursue a very busy street ministry, as well as Sunday services.

On Sunday, Feb. 4th, we enjoyed music ministry by Arlene - who has been with us from the very beginning of planting this church. We appreciate Arlene's gifts, both musically, and in terms of the leadership she has helped provide over the years.

Here are some photos of Darrin getting the altar ready, and the altar just as we were about to begin our service. We had a full liturgical communion and worship service. Scripture readings were done by Chad, Dana, and Sharon. Please join us for a future Sunday service at 10:00 a.m.

Church tomorrow....

2007-02-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

We will be meeting Sunday, Feb. 4 at 10:00 a.m. at 323 4 St. S. Lethbridge for Communion service. This will now be our regular service time each Sunday. We look forward to seeing you there, and please feel free to invite some friends!

FUN-orama!

2007-02-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a family vacation to Panorama near Invermere, B.C. The kids were pretty happy to miss a few days of school, and we were happy to take time off work. Darrin had not been skiing since the mid-90's and the last time I can remember skiing was the first time I was away from Carlin when he was a baby (about 14 years ago...) I grew up skiing a lot with my family - and, back in the day was not too bad if I do say so myself! :-) Darrin also skied a lot in his younger days and was a pretty advanced skier. Carlin had been on one school ski trip about five years ago and Brett and Sierra had never tried it. The day before we left Brett was really sick, so we weren't sure how things would turn out. However, despite all of this, it turned out to be a fantastic time and we will have lots of memories to take with us....

We put Sierra and Brett in the ski school for the first day. Panorama is very family orientated and their kids' adventure ski school is really well done. It included a supervised lunch and all day lessons for a very reasonable price. This gave us a chance to remember how to ski and give Carlin some refresher pointers. Darrin and I were both surprised at how quickly we remembered our skills.

Carlin was pretty scared at first, but very quickly got the hang of it and was up to blue runs his first day. We were impressed with how quickly he improved and how well he did.

Sierra very effectively learned to snow plow during ski school and was adamant that this was all she would do - just snow plow straight down the mountain - every time! She learned pretty quickly that this is hard on the leg muscles and we convinced her by day two that she could make turns -which she learned to do really well.

Brett decided right from the beginning of planning this trip that he wanted to snow board. We warned him that people had told us it is much harder to learn and that he might spend most of the time on his butt. After the first day of ski school, he didn't feel ready to join the rest of us, so we put him in the ski school for the second day. This helped a lot and he gained a lot more confidence. He is still pretty cautious and slow, and still spends a lot of time on his butt, but is starting to get the hang of it.

By day three, we were able to ski together as a family and had a great time. We discovered some fun trails that were easy enough for Brett to feel some confidence, but also provided areas for Darrin and I to get some speed and do some skiing that was fun for us. We went to the summit, which is all black runs except for one blue trail called "getmedown", which is what we took. It was clear, warm, and sunny on the summit and there was an amazing amount of snow on that mountain. It was beautiful and peaceful, with not that many people skiing mid-week.

We also enjoyed evening excursions in the "village" - riding the gondola from our condo up to the rest of the village. One evening we just went out for hot chocolate and walked around, and the next evening we hung out in the outdoor hotpools.

Darrin and I both seemed to have picked up the cold Brett had before we left, so we are now resting and recovering from the trip. It was a great time - and well worth it! We are hoping to do much more skiing in the future...

Happy Belated Birthday Kevan!

2007-01-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

A little birdie told us that our good friend Kevan W. (also known as jimminy_c) just had a birthday! We hope you had an amazing day and that this year will bring many blessings, fun, friends and other good stuff.

birthday wishes

2007-01-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

hi friends
Today is (mom's) Lisa's birthday ... 38 ...so happy birthday and god bless your day!
-sierra, brett, carlin, darrin

Sunday Services

2007-01-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Starting Sunday, February 4 we will be having Communion and Worship services every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at our usual location - 323 4th St. South, Lethbridge. Prior to this date there are no regularly scheduled services. See you Feb. 4!

miners and manners

2007-01-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Amongst the lies we men tell ourselves that are designed to make us a king ...or at least feel like a king, there are sometimes foundational truths that make the lie possible by giving it something firm to sit on. Maybe "lie" is too strong a word to use ... "illusion" might feel a little less severe and allow us to admit we do this. the illusions we hold (or lies we tell ourselves) usually have something to do with our yearning to do something great. think about it for a moment. "I'll be in the NHL one day"... "some day I'll front the biggest rock band ever and change the course of rock and roll"... "I'll go down in history as the greatest PGA golfer"... "I'll save Africa"... "I'm the greatest lover since Casanova"... "I'll be wealthier than ...." "I am a fighter truly unbeatable..." and on and on they go.

Men get along really well with each other when they allow themselves to tell those lies to each other and each guy respects the other guys lies, each guy believes his own, and yet each knows full well that there are many lies alive in the room and everyone is cool with that. More than the cold Coors Light packed perfectly in Povey's homemade wooden first aid box, this sacred ritual keeps me and all the other guys on our Jail hockey team coming out and staying in the dressing room for an hour after every game -it certainly isn't our win-loss record that keeps us coming out!

usually when we as men are busted living smack dab in the middle of our lie (usually by the woman closest to us) we protest and are offended that someone has the audacity to think we would lie or live in an illusion. I think there are two reasons for this objection and protest. One is that many of the illusions and lies are not really as big as the one's I mentioned above and are actually not that far from reach -at least in our own minds. The other reason is that the foundational truth the lie sits on is really true and we can stretch the kernel of truth into nearly anything. As well, there might be a third reason we object to someone bursting our illusion bubble and I wonder if it has to do with the thing I have noticed about the benefit of having those lies around. They always seem to provide the occasion, or project, or activity that allow men to hang around together without having to say to each other that "we want to hang around together". In other words either we are self perceived kings who are better off alone -or just clumsy and don't know how to hang around each other without some goofy project or activity that brings us together without the focus being on something silly like our emotions or feelings. No offence meant here to anyone, but sometimes the women in our lives just don't get this about us. That's because these are man-manners and they are built into the fabric of our creation as men.

o.k, here's one of the foundational truths about myself I'll tell you that I can prove and I'll leave it to you to judge what I build on it. I am a registered Free Miner in the Province of British Columbia! I could pull out my Free Miner's certificate and I can go online to claim territory I've staked out in B.C. that I can purchase as MY claim entitling me to rights to the minerals I find in the ground. Once claimed they are mine and nobody else's. My Dad is also a Free Miner like me, as was his Dad before him (my grandpa) and likely his dad too back in England, and so on, but that's not my point. Me and my Dad spend time poking around in the mountains prospecting for gold, hunting for obscure creeks and panning in them when we find them. I got the miner's certificate last year for a trip the two of us made to northern B.C. and the Yukon to prospect. I am renewing the certificate each year and each year we plan trips to various creeks, now mostly in Southern B.C. as 36 hours along the Alaska highway (one way) no longer has the same appeal it had the first time. Cool hobby isn't it.

The thing I tell myself now that my foundational truth (I am a Free Miner) is in place is that one day I'm going to find the mother lode. Me! and my dad tells himself the same thing -I know he does. If he says he doesn't he's lying! He believes it more than anyone could. It's the story and the plan we share together, tell ourselves and each other... that one day, after enough panning and poking around we'll look where no one has and find the gold that the good Lord has placed in the earth and has sat waiting for a gazillion years for us to come and put our name on the claim.

Meanwhile, we pour over maps, we bought a good GPS and computer mapping program, we buy rubber boots, we talk to Uncle Hank about his diamond drill and how we'll need to pull it back into the mountains to a promising site, we design the best ways to load the back of Dad's Rhino so the shovels fit, and we argue over how much extra gas we need to pack in a jerry can for the ATV versus room for the chainsaw. Then Dad does his "witching" thing with a rubber hose and gold nugget wrapped onto it either towards a direction in the mountains or even over a map, and we argue over that since I tend to favor praying and asking God where we should look rather than his voodoo shit with a hose and a map. Then, since I've hurt his feelings, he goes and mixes a strong crown royal and disappears for a while. When he comes back (well lit) we pull out the map again and he tells me how proud he is that I "became a minister" and that perhaps I am right that God will lead us to the gold. that's when we go back to packing the rhino and truck and oh yeah, the shotgun since he's terrified of bears and I can't handle him being twitchy all day when we're back in the mountains. when plans are finalized and everything packed we know we are ready to get going early the next day. For us this is the ritual before the ritual of actually going into the mountains on any of our trips.

I should tell you it wasn't always this way or this good with my dad. They divorced when I was 10 and we had very little actual contact for the next 25 years except for occasional things like graduations, my wedding, and a little more often when our kids came along. Our Yukon trip broke the ice only last year and.... well.... you know, I guess it's complicated between fathers and sons at the best of times never-mind when you are really only getting aquainted and that as grown men! I've never really felt anger towards him, mostly gratitude when I'd see him followed by some sense of sadness when he left again because I still really didn't know him and whenever he'd leave again, it reminded me of the hole in my soul I still had because of him. But this last year thanks to my miracle working little sister we had occasion to really have some heart to heart talks where we told him we fully forgive him for being missing all those years and are just happy to be able to hang around so much now and perhaps only now we can understand what was in his mind that caused him to feel the need to run. He cried. I told Lisa I don't have a clue what the hell to do next, and she said relax you're both learning only now how to be around each other.

He lived with us for four months this summer which was awesome, weird, awkward, funny, complicating, and felt for me a lot like a railway accident constantly about to happen, yet you want to keep going because you like the ride and hope you can avoid the wreck. I remember when Carlin was born feeling terrified because I had no certainty on how to be a dad. After 15 years of being a father I don't fear that anymore but for the first time this summer I found myself realizing at 38 that I had no fricking clue about how to be a son. in 16 years of ministry I'd done loads of Bible studies, sermons, summer camp devotionals on the father heart of God and I'd read many books on it.... I could say a lot about God as a Father, but I knew absolutely nothing about the son-ship of men. Nor did I have a clue how minute by minute to be a son myself. I guess that's why I felt so awkward during those four months, he felt it too I could tell because he kept his bottle of Crown Royal handy so as to turn to it when he needed to take the edge off his own feelings of inadequacy or uncertainty. We found a rhythm after a while, and sure enough less crown royal was needed. Even amidst the awkwardness, it truly was a good summer and in a real sense the gift of God for both of us to get to really know each other (He's almost 60) for the first time ever.

We each kept our Free miners certificates and maps handy however, and would pull them out now and again when we didn't know what else to say so we'd stir up the conversation about where we would next go panning and how to get there. we made plans about buying a good canvas wall tent so we could really work a claim for days on end and drill a few samples with the diamond drill. Our current dilemma is how to get a hold of a small track hoe or tractor with a rear hoe bucket in order to dig down to the important three feet of overlay that sits on top of bedrock where most placer (pronounced "PLASS-er) gold is found. Since we go back far enough into the mountains by ATV the hoe is too slow because of it's tracks. But, and this is important, if a guy gets a hold of one of those little Kubota diesel tractors with a rear hoe bucket, then one guy can drive the rhino with the little ATV trailer loaded with our prospectors gear, followed by the other guy driving the tractor. We thought we could put a few jerry cans of diesel fuel in the front bucket of the tractor solving the space problem of where to put tractor fuel. That way Dad and I wouldn't need to argue much and swear at each other over the lost packing space taken up by fuel. We agreed it was a brilliant idea and would set us up to do enough digging to get a good idea on how much placer gold was in a claim and indicate if we should pull the diamond drill there on the next trip to do some drilling. Dad figured he could do the digging since he does it for a living (oilpatch guy) and he is an expert on reclamation which in B.C. is important as you must leave the ground exactly the way you found it after you dig. The other thing is that he insisted I could then man the shotgun since there would certainly be a grizzly bear hiding only thirty feet away waiting for the time to charge given all the noise we were making with diesel engines, chainsaws, arguing etc! These are important discussions you know.... and worth the occasional argument in pursuit of the dream of the mother-lode.

man-manners have their important God-assigned place in the heirarchy of creation. They are the crucial oil that smoothens the machinery of men interacting together.... it's true with fathers and sons and its true with men in general. Some people might be tempted to call them lies and illusions or show-offy male competitiveness -comparing who is actually the bigger legend in their own minds. But those people forget how much we need those man-manners. Without them I'm not sure we know how to really interact with each other. I'm not saying that we don't tell each other the truth... not at all... especially between good friends and certainly amongst Christian men. But I've noticed that I often find it harder having good friendships of any depth with Christian men because somehow the ridiculous and dishonest church circles we were dragged into taught us that to be godly men we should not engage in exaggeration, or unrealistic dreaming, and instead should only speak biblical truth to each other. I have no issue with talking biblical truth (certainly given my profession), but have you ever noticed that Christian men often don't get the chance to talk about some of the real issues going on in our lives because we feel tied to this forced "niceness" that renders us unable to talk for example about the latest stunt by the notorious workplace idiot who everyone knows was only promoted because of his ass-kissing skills and not because of merit or trust given to him by the other guys? Sometimes I find myself more at ease with the non-churchgoing guys who know this and feel free to say it than the church guys like us who were told never to talk like that and consequently never really bond because the necessary glue of real life issues was never brought up. Man-manners is what we do in light of those problems that we encounter in daily life that help us all to still realize our greatness and the fact that we still need to be kings, if only in the eyes of other men who know this secret and respect it since we allow it for them too. Man-manners is what allows us to be kings around other kings without needing to steal each other's kingdoms and defend our own.

So I am enjoying owning my Free Miners Certificate and that two kings like my Dad and I will spend important time together in search of the mother-lode, and in knowing it is only a matter of time until we find it and become wealthy beyond our wildest dreams, take care of a lot of people, he'll finally find a damsel in distress to rescue (in actuality it will be the reverse) and I'll go on leaping tall cathedrals in a single bound. When he's gone one day I'll be really glad for the time together planning trips, packing atv's, panning creeks, arguing over fuel, and marking up maps because it is the only way a clumsy son knows how to enjoy his clumsy father when both don't know what to do next. The other thing I'll do is carry on what turns out to be a family thing that goes back many generations and is in the blood and connects the line of kings in this family. I see it in Dad's face when he's prospecting -he's honoring grandpa and he feels the connection that began when he was taught how to look for gold as a child. It just seems to be this way with men.... our manners are unique with one another and probably it should be that way since it is unique amongst kings.

Daily Readings

2007-01-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

We have added a link to the right under "Sacred Heart Connections" for daily scripture readings. If you'd like a quick way to look up the readings that are associated with the liturgical year we follow in our church - just click away!

Another thing - Darrin and I are wondering if we should change the format for this blog so that it is more of a group blog. We could add people as other authors and that way you can post thoughts, updates, topics for discussion, etc. We would love your feedback on that. If you think that is a better format and would like to be one of the authors, just let us know. We just need your email address.

peace of Christ,
Lisa

Getting Together

2007-01-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

For those who are in the area and would like to join us - we are having a Communion Service and potluck lunch at our home tomorrow, Sunday January 14 at 11:00 a.m. We like to have an idea who is coming, so would appreciate a heads up by phone or email. If you don't know how to reach us, post a comment to this entry and it goes directly to our email. You can give us your contact info and we don't have to publish your post. See you soon!

sacred heart blog

2007-01-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hi gang. darrin here.

I thought we should say early on that we want to encourage any of you to go ahead and post on sacred heart's blog. If you do, you'll notice that when you post it will tell you that the blog is moderated.

The reason for this is because we are hoping that the blog will be a forum for sacred hearters to connect with each other, with us, and that as it goes various threads of discussion may kick off.

That being said....unfortunately....the reality today is that any crank can find a church blog and post some of the nastiest comments anonymously as has happened before to other blogs, especially when they are not meant to be personal blogs but sort of church ones.

So..... we will moderate the posts simply to rule out the crazies and to keep it reasonably christian .... yet hopefully still cheeky if cheeky is necessary. Feel free to post any rant or rambling or photographs about your life that may be taken up by someone else for discussion. We will likely post all of it.

pax christi
darrin

Christmas, kids and the animals

2007-01-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

There are some benefits in letting people down. Hurting a few feelings too. I know, you're going to say..."does pastor darrin think that?" "He's supposed to make people happy, not disappoint them." Since the ministry is...you know... a feel good happy job to spread happy feelings to people. "He wouldn't do that." You're right... so I'll blame it on Lisa. We mustered up the courage and said to family and friends this year "forget about us coming over on Christmas", "we're spending it alone at home with the kids".

Actually i was as convinced as Lisa on this one. Maybe more. We decided that after 15 years or so of driving to one side of the family on the 24th, rushing back to celebrate a midnight Communion, wrapping gifts till 3:00 a.m. so Santa could leave his offering, followed by driving to the other side of the family on the 25th after getting dragged out of bed by frantic children at 7:00 a.m. to open gifts and sometimes yet another church service..... we would say, in effect, "to you know where with all!"

Actually, we didn't really say that... we're pastors after all. But we thought it. And not to all -just to everyone outside the immediate family. Which brings me to Christmas for kids and animals.

We loaded up the chainsaw and hooked the flat deck trailer to the truck. Threw a bale of straw on the deck to sit on and loaded three kids and three dogs onto the trailer to head across the fields to the river and the trees. For those of you super safety conscious parents our kids are old enough to ride on the trailer, and young enough to have made it dangerous enough to be fun and worry the parents. No kids fell off up front by the hitch or under the side wheels of the trailer. One dog did however! Houston "scrub" our beloved chocolate lab saw three hundred or so Canadian geese take off from the field and since in his little mind he can catch them, fell off the side of the trailer and sure enough just as I looked in the side mirror the trailer wheels (both of them) went right over him. Dumb shit. I pulled over quickly and the big mutt was on his feet and ran over the the straw stack to wonder what injustice had been done to him. We were worried and ran over to him to give him love and he sort of shrunk down like he does when we approach him after he's done something wrong, as he often does. He was fine and we laughed at him for thinking he must be in trouble since the trailer wheels probably did hurt.

Off to the river we went where we cut a bunch of dead-fall for firewood and loaded it onto the trailer. the kids thought it was great, they even did reasonably well when they tried the chainsaw. Again to you safety super-conscious parents just get over it... or your kids never will. Then we discovered a long smooth strip of thick ice at the edge of the Belly river with a convenient two foot hole 30 yards down. So we began sliding rocks to see who could get them into the hole and thus three hours of river curling was born -complete with evolving Parkin rules and unverifiable scores...of course in favor of the man of the house, man of the river, man of the trees! In between a few passionate arguments over whose turn it was, did that last shot actually count, hot chocolate cups and who gets which, and yelling at Houston, Murphy and little Chase to get off the thin ice at the middle of the river, we enjoyed the warm air, no actual wind, and the spiritually pregnant Christmas Eve day. Back to the truck and trailer and with windows all the way down we crept back to the yard trying not to loose firewood (or dogs....or kids) on the way.

We stopped to grain the horses, and gave them lots of extra since the kids insisted that Christmas was for them too. Taco and Belle didn't object as they were the object of much attention and much grain.

back home we lit the fireplace, and sat down to an oven ready Christmas dinner complete with Diana Krall Christmas Songs, wine for all five, and dogs happily laying at the fire. We read the Christmas story from Luke, sat together and watched "It's a wonderful life", opened one stocking stuffer, then made beds on the floor in the living room for three kids, one fire, four dogs, and two cats. We laughed at Scrub for half an hour pulling his ears and stretching his lips and tucking him into Sierra's bed when she got up. It was a lot of fun. In bed by midnight happy, we saw the Eve slip away into a relaxing Christmas day enjoying gifts no better or worse than other years.

It was pretty Norman Rockwell and very unique for a family like ours with the busyness and driving. We loved it. The kids said it was the best Christmas ever. The animals were impressed too, which impressed the kids of course and made for some rare magic that Christmas is supposed to hold were it not for the self-imposed obligation to visit and the silly catholic guilt that makes missing church Christmas Eve, especially for pastors, unthinkable.

Oh well, after a glass of wine and a cigar to cap Christmas Eve we have some really good pictures. And memories that will go with the kids forever too. That itself is worth more than anything else. What we don't have is guilt or regret for the "supposed to do's" at Christmas. The families saw us on the 26th and 27th and that was just fine.

So, cheers to guilt-less Christian living, possibly hurting a few feelings, kids and animals, and Norman Rockwell.

darrin

The Invitation

2007-01-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

kay guys - i'm going to be vulnerable and post a poem I wrote in 2002. No one has seen it except Darrin, but here goes:

The Invitation

The trumpet calls,
But do I see?
The hand that holds all
Holds me.
The Holy Warrior,
Ancient One,
Rushing Water,
Shining Sun.
One who sets Himself
Apart from all,
But touches me
As I fall.
"Do not be Afraid"
Death will not be
Life-giving One
Who holds the key
This present death
Will not contain
the First and Last
The One who reigns.
Power and Dominion,
Equaled by none,
Piercing through,
What I have become.
How can I hear,
What I do not see?
How can I know
the Voice calling me?
Lay down my all,
What is real,
To truly touch,
what He will reveal
Truth I have not seen,
But is in wait,
Turn to hear,
As He creates.
Time can never
Take that away.
What is real,
Is here today.
I grasp,
And seeing, fall,
Laying down
My very all.
Seeing through,
and now beyond.
Can it be,
That I belong?
The hand that smotes,
Holds up the air,
And rests on me,
As I linger there.
Knowing now,
and always known,
Hearing first,
What He has shown.
Waking to
the power, real,
Holding fast
the Holy Seal.

(based on Rev. ch. 1)

Engagement and Wedding News

2007-01-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

We have borrowed a link from Kevan's blog to help spread the news of Megan and Aaron's engagement. I think we all knew that was just a matter of time! :-) They are such a great couple and we wish them all of God's blessings for their marriage.

We also want to make sure everyone knows about the wedding of Chad and Sharon which took place on December 30. Darrin had the honour of performing the ceremony and it was such a special event for all of us. Chad and Sharon are very special to our community and they were so full of joy that it was such a blessing to be part of their day. Our children had such a great time at the dance! Tavis did an amazing job as m.c. - especially the game show "The Price is Life"- brilliant! Joanna did an outstanding job in her dual role of "Woman of Honour" and "Barker's Beauty". We look forward to seeing them continue to grow as a couple and see what life brings.

Cricket Warblings: Just get them to the church on time...

2007-01-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Cricket Warblings: Just get them to the church on time...

Sacred Heart new Blog

2007-01-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

We have often heard from people who either currently are, or have been connected with Church of the Sacred Heart, have moved away, and would like to stay connected in some way. Even though we are not as technologically savvy as most of you, we are finally embracing this mode of communication! It has come to our attention that many "Sacred Hearters" ( which, from this point on will refer to anyone who is currently or was formerly part of our community and moved away) have blogs and keep in touch through these blogs. We realized this may be one of the best ways we can stay connected and even maintain a certain sense of community with those who no longer live near to our church. This, in itself would be a great topic of discussion: can you have genuine "community" through electronic means - or does it require face to face contact?

Anyway, this is totally new and we have not yet fully thought through the purpose and what it will look like. But, we are open to comments, thoughts, input, etc. What we do know is that we often hear that people found something unique in being part of Sacred Heart and miss it. Maybe this is a way to address some of that. We certainly miss many of the people who have moved on, and would love to keep in touch.

Let's see where this goes....

Peace of Christ to you.