Y2Ten...

For some reason i was laying in my bed the other night while it was as still as could be (considering it's Christmas time) throughout our home and my mind began wandering toward the fact that in just a few days it will be January 1st of 2010....

About that same time, i begin to think about what i was doing about ten years ago in December 1999, right before the arrival of January 1st of the year 2000...


okay, okay i admit it, i was a a little bit unsure about the whole "Y2K" thing.... and while i had not built a bunker in the back yard that was stocked with survivalist supplies, i did wonder what would happen...


i do know one thing, unlike December of 1999, i sensed the presence of God in my life and in our home the other night as i lay there in that dark bedroom... i could hear the radio in my youngest son's bedroom play some song that made a powerful statement about the importance of faith in Christ... i recognized how God had made it possible for my daughter and second oldest son to connect with other students their own respective ages who will be lifelong friends.... i felt pride swell in my heart as my oldest son, against all sorts of odds, makes his way through a university atmosphere learning what it means to truly live the faith he claims to possess...

And for what seemed to be the millionth time since we have been married to each other... i imagined (because i could not see remember? It was night time...) what my wife's incredible smile looked like when she is awake....

i don't remember much about about December 1999 but i do hope the image i just recalled stays with me for many more years to come...

Happy New Year.

Down in a hole...

Ever been stuck? Stuck not struck... not like the song "Stuck on You" or General Honore's famous stuck on stupid... line in the midst of Hurricane Rita...the stuck i experienced was really sort of funny (in a weird and twisted way)...

Once upon a time i lived in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies and Spelunking or caving out in western Canada is big deal. There were several leaders in my youth ministry who did this and were quite accomplished. i being the dork that i was, agreed to give it a try.

So one sunny day we drove out to mountains, they were (as usual) simply gorgeous. Down we went down into the cave. Damp... cold and musty. I don't know how long we spent crawling through holes in complete darkness with very minimal light... but it seemed like forever. The openings in the rocks tended to be very, very small and honestly i was not. Several of these holes i managed to successfully crawl through on my stomach but several of them required crawling through on your back.

At one point i tried the crawl-on-your-back technique on a particular hole and got stuck.... in a hole, in the ground... in a hole!!!!

And folks... in that hole, it was completely dark especially on my side because i was the last one through! Everyone else was already on other side, seeing my lower torso in the light of multiple flashlights!

The things that run through your mind in a situation like that are pretty horrifying... i wondered if i would ever get free... i recall thinking at the time "great i'm gonna' be stuck here forever!". I also remember wondering how would i ever get unstuck?

Well, obviously it all worked out in the end... somehow in the end, things turned out much better than my overactive imagination allowed for. It took a little work and determination but i would venture to guess that many of you who are reading this, are maybe stuck too but in a different way.

Are you stuck...

• in a rough season in your marriage?
• with unresolved issues with siblings?
• in a pattern of addictive behaviors?
• with an anger that boils over at the slightest provocation?
• with resentments that you will not let go of?
• because someone let you down and forgiveness is not in your vocabulary?

You don't have to be stuck you know.... do like i did.... calm down, stop fighting with yourself and amazing freedom can be yours too.

Amazing... Simply Amazing!

January 1985....
On a brisk winter night Darren and i meandered across a dark campus in Lincoln, Illinois... we are transfer students and are trying to get acclimated to our new school after a "difficult"
semester at another college. It just so happens that night, a womens' basketball game is taking place in what this place calls a "gym". Partially to get out of the cold and partially to see if there are really any other people on this college campus, we make our way in. Once inside we stand in the middle of two sets of bleachers (if you can call them that) to our left and to our right.

Because the gym is so small, bleachers only fit on one side of the gym... the side we entered from. We never really planned on staying long but just before we turn to go, looking to my right, i notice one of the Lady Angels (that is what our women's athletic teams are nicknamed) dribbling the basketball up the floor going from right to left... and the fact is, she is absolutely one of the cutest girls i think I have ever seen... as i watch her help the team set up its' offense, i with intention, turn to my friend and say...."Darren within one year, i am going to take that girl... the one dribbling the ball, yeah her.... out on a date!"

Amazingly enough, i didn't even know her name!?!


January 1986...
Ruthie and i go out on our very first date.... We eat dinner at "The Depot" and since i'd never seen the original 101 Dalmatians (which coincidentally was celebrating that very month, its' 25 year anniversary of being released to the public by Walt Disney) we take that in as well. The food and the movie were exceptional but the amazing part of the evening was simply... Ruthie.
i knew i was done... she was the one.





January 1988
Because of the crazy rules (that i'll maybe explain another time and that have since been changed) Ruthie and i are married not just once but twice. In a ceremony at my home church in the south suburbs of Chicago witnessed by lots of friends and family and another ceremony that had to happen before midnight witnessed by her mom and dad and maternal grandparents in the living room of her dad and mom's church parsonage in Indiana... we become husband and wife. In a few days we begin our amazing journey together to Canada and an amazing journey together in life.




January 2008
This month marks our being married for 20 years!
Why she puts up with me, i do not know... but this one thing i do know...
She is still the cutest girl i have ever seen... God has blessed me way beyond anything i deserve and she is amazing.... simply amazing!