TAKE A WHIFF...

Merry Christmas from the Easton Elves

2007-12-28T20:43:00.000-05:00

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

My prediction

2007-01-25T12:19:00.000-05:00

Curiously, I am predicting that our baby will come exactly on its due date this time around. "Why?", you say? How could this be? Weren't your first two born the day before their due date?

Aria celebrated her birthday yesterday (Wednesday). Lael's is on a Wednesday this year. My birthday is on a Wednesday this year and the baby is due on April 4th--- a WEDNESDAY!!! Valerie's will be on Sunday this year but that would be just way too coincidental if her's was a Wednesday too.

So, don't ask if its going to be a boy or a girl. Obviously no one knows that! But ask me what day it will be born on-- I say WEDNESDAY!!!

P.S. Thanks for your patience all you people who read my blog yesterday, within 12 hours of me posting, even though I hadn't posted in 3 months. I pity you checking so often... I would have given up long ago :)

Surprise... a post... a brief thought

2007-01-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about the disciples response to Jesus when he said, "I say to you, one of you will betray Me." (Mt. 26:21) We all make Judas out to be the bad guy, and obviously he was. But it is interesting that all of the disciples began saying, "Lord, is it I?" I have thought about this before but a new thought I had today was that it appears that they had come to the point that they knew Jesus knew them better than they knew themselves. They didn't respond to Jesus statement with a chorus of "No!" and "It would never be me!" They knew that Jesus spoke the truth even though it did not align with their idea of what they expected to happen. But more importantly, they trusted His word more than they trusted their own confidence in themselves. If I had of been there, I would have said, "surely, Lord, not me... now which of you guys is the hypocrite?" But these guys had hung out with Jesus long enough to get past those games that I like to play-- they knew Jesus knew everything. They knew he knew the deceit, deception and doubt in their minds and they didn't trust in their own facade. I believe they hoped it wasn't them he was talking about, but they knew Jesus well enough to know that He knew.

So, for me that means--- when it comes to my relationship with God, I need to be honest with him. When it comes to the future, I need to trust Him that he knows best. I don't know what tomorrow will bring-- He does. That is a source of confidence and hope.

Last course....

2006-10-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

I finished a correspondence course last night at midnight. I began the course in May and had until the end of September to finish it but of course my "plan" to work away at it all summer did not occur and over the past 2 days I have been working non-stop except for a couple of hours to sleep.

Needless to say, today I am enjoying a rest. It doesn't mean that my life has stopped but I feel like I can relax without guilt.

I am taking one other course this semester which is the last course in my M. Div. It has been a long road since I started my Masters in the summer of 2000 at Dallas Seminary.

Overall, it has been a great experience-- I think the best thing I have learned is "how to preach". I learned some Hebrew but am disappointed that I didn't learn more. I also enjoyed the Church History component.

I was relating to some friends last week that it will be weird not to be in school anymore. I have been in school all my life except for 2 years between 1998 and 2000.

Why we don't go

2006-09-28T14:49:00.000-04:00

I have been taking a missions course this semester and it has been very thought provoking.

One thing that I can't get out of my head since Tuesday is this:

The top 3 factors that North American Christians don't go to the nations:

1. Self-Absorption
2. Fear (all sorts, ie. suffering)
3. Someone/Something given greater rule in our lives than Christ

Take a "Sniff"

2006-08-14T22:49:00.000-04:00

I could retitle my blog for the next couple of days because apparently I have inherited a little cold from my sweet little girls. Its amazing how they reward your love and cuddling when they are sick... they just want to pass it on. Valerie has avoided it so far.

I am trying to remind myself of my own sermon I gave yesterday at Westmount... to enjoy the ride of life and all of its ups and downs. Ecclesiastes 3 says that everything happens for a reason... there is an appointed time for the good things and for the bad things. We don't understand what the purpose is all the time but God is working out his "good purpose". We don't have the capacity to understand all of what God is doing.

The best illustration I could think of was to equate life to taking Lael to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Nebraska-- an 18+ hour car ride. The last time we made the trek she started asking for "new books" about 1 hour down the road. Valerie and I looked at each other and said, "she has no idea!" As parents, we knew that it was a worthy venture for her to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma but it was beyond her 2-year-old mind to conceive of a 1500 km trip. So she would complain and whine-- just like we do, throughout life. We don't know where God is taking us and we don't have a full picture even of where God has brought us from-- but we are on the ride.

Solomon encourages us to submit to God's purposes and "do good" (ie. obey His Word). "Trust and Obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus" And then he says that we should "rejoice" or "be happy". I understand that as enjoying the rollercoaster ride that is life.

So I sit here with a sniffling nose and smile...

First Half of Summer and Memories

2006-06-30T09:15:00.000-04:00

Well the 60 days have elapsed and so, as faithful as I am-- I am blogging.

The KLBC year ends at the end of April which means 4 months of "summer." Although I am in the office everyday, the pace of the summer schedule is much different than the rest of the year. Unbelievably the first half of this summer break is over.

We were privileged to take a week and visit our neighbour nation to the south and its fabulous capital. Although most of you have probably seen the pictures on my wife's blog (valerieeaston.blogspot.com)-- you have not heard my take on it. It was challenging but fun-- the farther I am removed from the actual event the better the experience seems.

Parenthesis: The theory of Memory
(Memories are based on fact but they are preserved by post-discussion and review. Most of my childhood memories have pictoral documentation. Why is that? As time progresses, the pictures help me review the event in my mind so that the most reviewed aspects of the event are what I now have preserved in pictures. My wife asked me the other day if I remember the first time something clicked in my mind. Nothing came to mind-- how sad. She had 2 such memories. In St. Augustine's confession, he goes to great lengths in the discussion of memory. The memory is an amazing thing and curious. St. Augustine says "What happens when the memory itself loses something, like when we forget anything and try to recall it? Where do we search for it but int he memory itself? There, if one thing is offered for another, we refuse it umitl we find what we are looking for, and when we do find it, we recognnize that this is it. However, we couldn't do this unless we recognized it, nor could we have recognized it unless we remembered it. Yet we had forgotten it!" When Valerie asked me that question... immediately my mind began to race back through the annals of my life and times and tossed out various options for me to approve as fitting the criteria. To recall memories, one does not do anything physically but sit and think-- sometimes exhausting work and perhaps what you are doing now as you try to sort through this interesting phenomenon.)

If I haven't lost you: back to D.C.

... It was challenging to camp with 2 little girls. On more than one occassion the thought of heading home crossed our minds. But we tried to enjoy the happy moments. Having small children means choosing to do things that you might not normally do in such a historical and interesting city. Instead of touring the Capitol we instead visited an Aquarium. This was 800% more interesting to Lael and ended up being a very happy memory because of her excitement. Because Valerie had to feed the baby periodically-- that meant times when Lael and I could just relax and play "empty the contents of the diaper bag" under a shady tree. Such times are important parts of family vacations and the most important thing about our trip-- or lives-- whether we are at home or taking in the sites of powerful cities-- spending quality time with our families.

Thank you, Lord, for granting us that week. Help me remember the good times and help the girls remember them too!

Next week we are off to Nebraska to see all of Valerie's family. Her parents are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary with family and close friends.

A New Season! A New Blog!

2006-05-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

Well, summer has unofficially begun for me. Graduation occured on Saturday and that means that today is the first day of the summer. That means quiet halls and a different pace. It means eating KD in my office for lunch watching the beautiful weather from my window (hmmm... what is wrong with that picture). More importantly, it means my family gets back their husband and father without his emotional and physical exhaustion-baggage. It also means that some things are going to get done at home that have been needed to be done (ie. cleaning the garage, getting caught up with the financial entries, etc.) It also means that I might blog once a month. You who have been closely following my blogging consistency will realize that I missed blogging in April-- but not this month!! It is the 1st and already I have one entry. That means that I can go almost 60 days before my next entry. So see you in 60 days! :)

My wife is American--- But She's from the Midwest - Not me!!!

2006-03-06T15:28:00.000-05:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Excuse me, I blogged!

2006-02-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

So its February 28th and I haven't blogged all month. I have made a sort of resolution that I would blog at least once a month. That is to keep my family at least somewhat happy. Apparently they check my blog almost daily and are usually disappointed to find that there is never anything new there. I am afraid that after a while they will stop checking altogether. I can't say I would really blame them. Dave, I think I am doing even worse than you at this blogging thing.

But I am blogging tonight! It's 11:13 p.m. so I am beating my self-inflicted deadline by a good 45 minutes. So there, me!

I was going to blog/rant about made-up words like "blog", etc. but I can't now as I just learned this evening from Matt Foreman where the word came from. Turns out it is a shortform of "web-log". That makes sense to me and really isn't all that interesting. Sometimes short forms are just a lot more cooler, of which this is the case.

I am off to Kitchener tomorrow on a business trip -- which is a rarity for me. The Christian Social Service Agencies in Ontario are trying to team up with Ontario Bible Colleges to see if there could be a partnership which would provide the agencies with training facilities/programs and hopefully provide the colleges with students. I am representing KLBC to listen to what the possibilities might be. This is the second of such meetings. The first one took place in Guelph last May.

Good night from the 'Boro.

More Pics of Aria

2006-01-25T01:03:00.000-05:00

Aria Grace Easton

2006-01-25T00:45:00.000-05:00

Born into this world at 5:45 p.m. on January 24th, 2006, Aria Grace Easton declared to all in hearing distance, and in her case this was a fairly lengthy measurement, that "oxygen is hard to get used to." She weighed exactly 7 pounds and was 19 3/4" in length.

We left for the hospital at 2:00 p.m. at the suggestion of the obstetrician, since Valerie's contractions were getting very severe although the interval between them was more in the 8-10 minute range instead of 5 minutes (the usual signal to head to the hospital). Apparently things were very much in progress because when we arrived Valerie was already close to 6 cm and it didn't take long for things to progress. Three hours later, Aria had arrived!

Aria is perfect in every way. She looks a lot like Lael but has her own distinct nose. We discovered that her lungs are of exceptional quality. Her name means "A melody of grace". At this point the melody is rather cacophonous but we pray that through the grace of God in her life, her life will demonstrate the grace of God to all around her. "Ann" is a family name (Valerie's middle name is Ann; My Granny's middle name was Ann, my sister's middle name is Ann, Valerie's mother's middle name is Anne) but we chose "Grace" as her middle name because that is what the name "Ann" means and I liked the sound of it better. It is also one of God's attributes with respect to his children, which he bountifully has demonstrated to Valerie and I throughout our lives.

We thank God for a healthy baby girl and for her safe arrival. We thank Him for the strength that He gave to Valerie throughout these past couple of weeks and today in the final hours of labour. We thank God for our supportive family and friends who have been so thoughtful, caring and encouraging. God is so good!

Big Skies

2005-12-05T23:53:00.000-05:00

This is me this summer off of the coast of Cape Breton Island, embracing a very big sky made by an even bigger God.
Ambience

"Eddy"

2005-11-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

Eddy was a hermit crab
He never came out of his shell
Eddy, he was shellfish
You know him very well
His peers just down the sandy beach
Found him to be crabby
Was it just his stone-washed genes
That made him so unhappy?

These are the lyrics of a little song, Stephen Burbidge and I wrote a number of years ago. I have always considered it to be one of the cleverer poem/songs to which I have contributed. Oh, that Eddy and his angst.

When you are shovelling it's hard to see the sparkle

2005-11-25T09:06:00.000-05:00

I arose early this morning to try to swell the tide of the rising snow on our walk and driveway. As I bumbled about trying to drag out my boots for the first time this season and bringing down the shovel from its abode for the past eight months, I did not feel particularly joyous.
After a number of minutes shoving the snow in various directions (to my pleasant surprise it was not as heavy as I had feared), I began the work on the driveway. I must admit my mind was fairly focussed on the mundane moment of my existence.

But this comatose state was soon to be lifted as my landlady appeared from her garage to drag her garbage to the crestfallen curb. As she headed back to the house she commented how she "loved the sparkle" as the early light and streetlights caught it at just the right angle. I realized suddenly that I had failed to notice the beauty in what lay around me. Sure enough, unbeknownst to me, indeed there was a sparkle in the blanket that covered the yards in all directions. My snowblindness consisted of earthly-mindedness. I had failed to observe the beauty of God's handiwork because I had been caught up in the inconvenience and selfishness of the thoughts of a sleep cut short and the little pain in the shoulder from the constant rotor-cuff motion.

"The heaven's declare the glory of God", as does all his creation. This was a good reminder to stop and consider Him, no matter what the moment might make us feel.

When you shovel, look for the sparkle!

Why the title "take a whiff"?

2005-11-15T13:43:00.001-05:00

In case you might be wondering why the title "Take a whiff" I will hope to give out a number of reasons. In a lot of ways it touches various aspects of my biographical sketch and it also has spiritual connotations. In general, to sum up, before I give my lengthy list, smell is curiously important to me.

Here's a few reasons behind the title:

1. I like baseball. "To whiff" means to miss the pitch. I always prided myself on my pitching more than I hitting so this is a positive thing.

2. "Take a Whiff" was my suggestion for a slogan for my friends' band (as I recall it was for a T-shirt). The name of their band was "Abel's Offering" (featuring Stephen Burbidge and Todd Bearisto and no longer in active service) because it was an acceptable offering to God and I thought it was a great slogan-- kind of catchy and with the implication that others were benefitting from their worship. Turns out they hated it; in fact, Todd really hated it and laughed every time I suggested it. I still like it.

3. The smell particle was an elusive scientific theoretical phenomenon that made up a surprisingly significant aspect of my highschool conversation with my closest friends. I still believe that this is an underdeveloped science area.

4. My alias is "B.O. Man." This not-so-fictional character was created at an all-nighter event at Westmount Bible Chapel back in 1994 by Gary Telford for a video. For some strange (I like to think there was no correlation to my particular odor that evening) reason I was selected to play the lead role. It was great fun and an iconic figure was born that would last for another decade of film-making. My friend and I did one half-hour movie called the "Eh Bomb" and then a second longer film was in production that included a larger cast (of staff from Fair Haven Bible Camp in New Carlisle, Quebec) which was never completed and remains on various VHS tapes in my possession.

5. Finally, as the subtitle aludes, Christ's death for us is referred to as a sweet-smelling sacrifice. We are also called to give our lives as "living sacrifices" (Rom. 12:1). Our good things that we do for others are also seen a fragrant offering and pleasing to God (Phil. 4:18). The sacrifice of Christ has pleased God and we are called to emulate that sweet-smelling gracious gift to others around us. That is what this life is all about.

May others be able to "take a whiff" of you!

A Post, a post...

2005-10-25T09:26:00.000-04:00

This is a post so that my page will work. I plan to add to this blog when life slows down a bit.

Hope you enjoy what's not here. If you do, you will enjoy what will come :)