Alex

So I'm back swinging a hammer again three days a week when I'm not taking classes.  What may be surprising to a number of people is that I love it.  I love working with sinners who need to see, feel, and hear God's love for them.  I've been working for Thomas Bradley Construction for near three years now and the relationships that this job has brought to me are precious.  Isn't that always how it is though with a job?  It's the relationships that makes it.  

I want to tell you a little bit about Alex.  Alex is my age, and he has been working in carpentry full time since getting out of highschool.  Alex is good at what he does.  He is efficient yet knows when it is necissary to be particular.  Alex has shown more patience with me than I deserve from him.  He reminds me way too often that I need to put glue down before the sheet of plywood, or that I am about to put the sheet down upside-down.  I love Alex.  When Alex was younger he called himself a Christian.  Now he considers himself an Atheist.   It's his prerogative to live like Hell.  It's easier when you don't believe it exists.  My heart goes out to Alex.  He needs to truly encounter the Living God.  I pray that every day I work with him he encounters a little bit of the Living God in me.  What a high calling I have!  That God would choose me for such an incredible opportunity.  

Lord, give me strength and boldness by your Spirit to open my mouth and speak of your love, your grace, your forgivenss and the joy of knowing YOU.  Fill my heart with love even when I don't want to love.  Thank you for using me for your glorious work. Amen.

Wedding Photo Booth

If anyone wants to access and download pictures from our wedding reception photo booth, please send me an email or leave me a comment and I will forward you the site and the password :)

Love you all.

Mr. Reimer

Married to THE Woman I Love

On December 19, 2008, God blessed me forever with this amazing woman, the love of my life. I wrote about how Charisa and I met etc. in my previous post (over half a year ago!) and now we are finally married. My wife (then fiancee) and mother-in-law and our families had worked tirelessly to make that day beautiful and meaningful and they really did succeed in every way. One of the most precious highlights of the wedding was our nephew Noah who walked down the aisle as our ring bearer. There was a lot of skepticism as to whether or not he would actually do it on the wedding day as he just reached 18 months! That little man could not have walked more perfectly than he did... I think he was even walking according to the tempo of the song :) It was absolutely adorable. And then came my Bride. I don't know if there will ever be a moment that will parallel that one again in my life. What an overwhelming experience of stepping into the unknown. No one ever told me that getting married was an enormous step of faith. It has been that for me and I know for Charisa as well. What an adventure we are on already.
I am writing this from our honeymoon location in Tuwanek on the Sunshine Coast where it has been wonderfully wintery at our little cabin. No one ever told me that the honeymoon is an adventure too. Relationship is such a beautiful thing. Over and over these two weeks we have both been struck with the thought, "Wow! God really loves us!"
Here are two of the beautiful wedding pictures that we had taken at Deer Lake Park. Charisa was wishing for snow for our wedding day... God provided an overabundance.

Oven-Mitts? Really!

I am living in a bachelor pad. Make no mistake we are primitive creatures, us men. Now since moving in at the Berry house for the summer I have been confronted on several different occasions by the fact that there are no oven-mitts in our kitchen. This usually results in a frantic search for a tea-towel (which are also in short supply in our kitchen) whilst my precious nachos (the diet of a true church-working bachelor) start to turn just a little too crispy. Yesterday I solved this dilemma forever.
Glancing into the oven I saw, to my delight, that the cheese was bubbling wonderfully! In my jubilation I forgot momentarily the oven-mitt dilemma. But in my exuberant haste I improvised (if I may say so) brilliantly. In a matter of seconds my T-shirt was off of my body and in my hand. I confidently opened the oven door, grabbed hold of my prize and removed if from that hazardous inferno before my cheese began to burn and my chips turned brown. In the blink of an eye my T-shirt was back on my body and I was eating nachos! Now at first I didn't realize the implications of my discovery, but as I neared the end of my feasting and my mind made room for other thoughts, (thoughts that were not those of the euphoric stimulation that is mine through the medium of cheesy nachos) it began to dawn on me: This spells the end of Oven-Mitts! Long live the bachelor's 'T'.

~As I was writing this I have been observing my room-mate's uncanny ability to read with his eyes shut! If only I had such ability, but alas. Maybe he's an alien?

much love and smiles,

Stewie

I'm Pleased to Announce...

It is most definitely time that I updated the people I love on just a tiny bit of the goings on of the last couple of months. Her name is Charisa and I met her in January. After going to the same church our entire lives we met by the grace and providence of God this year. After three months of rather deliberate getting to know eachother we found our passions and interests quite compatible and found we were falling in love. Aside from my school work and volunteering in youthgroup I spent every moment I had getting to know this woman. In the very early stages of our relationship we realistically had to decide if it was worth getting to know eachother in the relatively short amount of time before she left to go overseas for an entire year. We both decided the other was too good to pass up so we went for it and gave it everything we had! We still are and God has been leading us along all the while. I've spent much time in prayer and in fasting that God's will will be done and that ours would follow after his. We have both been very affirmed that this is indeed someone we can serve God next to with all our hearts for all our days... and did I mention that we are in love?
While Charisa was still here we tried to squeeze in as much adventure and romance together as we possibly could. On the list of things we did were (guys get a pen out): a picnic at Lighthouse park one beautiful afternoon listening to the waves, a day-trip to Whistler, sea kayaking down the Nicomekl River to Crescent beach for a stirfry on the beach watching the sun set, hiking in UBC Research Forest in Maple Ridge and a mountaintop picnic, spending lots of time together with our respective families, a day trip to Seattle with her brother and sister-in-law, a romantic walk down Jericho beach dancing on the pier in a light rain with a chocolate mocha and eachother to keep us warm, multiple walks at Crescent Beach (her favourite place in the world), tandem biking around Stanley park with her family, a relaxing sunday afternoon stroll at Iona Beach... the list goes on but I know James is yawning : ) and so, as the story goes, we fell quite into love and embraced eachother as the faceless, nameless man and woman we've been waiting for forever with great anticipation.
On May 1st of 2008 I took Charisa on an epic date. We both dressed up real nice and started at Queen Elizabeth Park where her dad took some beautiful pictures of us (some of which I will post at the end of the blog). We then had tea at the Secret Garden Teahouse followed by a lovely time at Jericho beach where I read her an original work of mine on Prov 31. We then had a five course dinner cooked at a family friend's house in a wonderfully intimate setting and great service. Following that we went to Crescent beach where a quiet candle-lit, chai latte, chocolate dipped strawberry laden setting awaited us. We sat and talked and I told Charisa what she meant to me and why I desired to marry her. Then i asked her to be my wife. The best part was... she said yes : ) I gave her a beautiful ring and we are planning to get married next summer when she gets home from her travels.



May God bless you all richly through his son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Much love,
S-dubble-rubble

Annabaptists Meeting Muslims

Recently I had the absolute pleasure of sitting in a lecture by David Shenk who is an Annabaptist from Pennsylvania working for the Mennonite Central Committee in the muslim nations of the world. David has been a pioneer for the greater part of his life of the Christian faith into closed muslim countries. The only reason that he has been able to do this is because he is truly living out the love of Jesus Christ, even for Muslim people. In a day and age where 'Christians' are doing an excellent job of earning the hatred of Muslims the world over, David Shenk has been approaching any and every Muslim to dialogue about their faith and his. Here is one scenario from Shane Claiborne that will hopefully illustrate the how we're earning this hatred. Shane had flown to Baghdad from America to be there when the Americans bombed the city. He said that as he walked down the halls of an over-crowded hospital in the ensuing chaos he heard one little girl repeating over and over again as she lay on a hospital bed, "What did I do to America?" Unfortunately, in times like these, America still bears the title of a 'Christian' nation and now terrorists in the Middle East have been given excellent material for propaganda against, not only Americans but Christians.

The amount of misinformation in the Muslim world regarding what Christians stand for and believe is incredible says David. And I think that this misinformation goes the other way as well. When terrorists bombed the Twin Towers muslims became demonized and misunderstood in our society. We sit back and make assumptions about what Muslims do and don't believe never for a moment thinking to ask a muslim.

So David's ministry is talking theology with muslims in closed countries over tea. One of the major reasons that he is able to do this is because he comes from the Anabaptist tradition. David said that he loves to remind his Muslim counterparts that Anabaptists did not fight in the Crusades, and in fact they were burned at the stake for refusing. It seems that the non-violent, apolitical anabaptists are seen as weak and utterly unthreatening to Muslim people. In conjunction with this they are also very attractive solely because of Jesus' love manifest in their good deeds. David is using this reputation in the Muslim community to share the good news of the gospel even with the most militant of Muslim leaders, and they are listening! He told the story of how after a cease-fire had been reached in the Caucus region he asked a few of the church leaders from the church up on the hill where he might find the muslim leaders of the people that they had just been fighting with. They told him where the Muslims gathered to pray and worship and he invited them to come with him to talk with them. They laughed at him and refused so he started off alone across 'no-man's-land' and seeing his boldness they scurried after him. They went and talked with the Muslim teachers at the building for three hours over a lot of tea and a lot of cookies. By the end of a conversation that revolved around Jesus, they called each other friends and parted ways. He is a fearless, non-violent, lover of muslims and he is changing the face of Christianity in the muslim world.
David Shenk is proof that the MCC's activity in the world has opened doors in Muslim nations because of Love manifested in good deeds! One extraordinarily practical thing that David really challenged me with was to go out and make muslim friends. Learn from them, love them, talk to them and rest assured Jesus will end up being the topic of conversation.


PS. I also bought his book called 'Annabapitsts Meeting Muslims' which any of you can borrow from me if you're interested in what God is doing amongst Muslim peoples these days.

Extremists for Love

Well, I just finished a book that was quite challenging. It's a book that is written for those of us who are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, who stand forgiven and are called to walk in the light but instead have comfortably fallen asleep in the coziness of a salvation that we will cash in when we die. It's written for people who are frustrated and bored with the Christianity that they've been a part of for their entire lives. Shane Claiborne reminded me that this Christian life we live is the most challenging and exciting and rewarding thing that we could possibly be a part of on earth. He challenges us to be extremists for love, like Jesus. He challenges us to exercise our faith with actions that are based in love, mercy, and grace. He challenges us to seek first the Kingdom of God, not any other kingdom.
I will save you the time reading the book and tell you instead to read the bible (especially if you haven't already) and obey what it says. If you have read the bible and really want to read some other inspiring stories about people who are doing just that then by all means read 'The Irresistible Revolution'. Don't read it if you want a lesson in theology... cause it is not that. It is not Shane Claiborne's theology, if it was it would be vastly incomplete, however it is a reminder and a challenge.
So after a vibrant discussion with Rebecca, and James at Christmas time I will say that I may have liked this book because I'm a peace-loving, Anabaptist. I think though that Shane makes a very strong case for loving our enemies and Jesus teachings about things like turning the other cheek and being persecuted because of righteousness.
This is an observation that I doubt is new but I will lend it anyways. In a world where nobody in world politics (or even world history) has ever led their country in loving their enemies and turning the other cheek, I think that it is time that we follow after our Kingdom's leader and follow his example in this very thing. I think that it is because of this very reason that the Kingdom of God has exploded since Jesus made a mockery of violent, inhumane treatment of people by dying on the cross out of love for all the sinners of the world, including the very people who killed him. His immediate followers were willing to do the same because they saw the power and transformation that occured when a righteous man died at the hands of unrighteous men. The apostle James is a beautiful testimony to this. "James, (along with his brother, John) was one of Jesus' cousins, a bit of a zealot. As they were walking through Samaria one day, some Samaritans were giving them a hard time, so James offered to help Jesus take care of them by calling down "fire from heaven" on the Samaritans. I'm not sure exactly what that meant back then, but Jesus was not happy and rebuked him. The story of Jesus' life continued, and James watched Jesus love of people and then die. So eventually James faced his own execution for having followed the one who loved his enemies to death. He was imprisoned and was set to be executed. Before his execution, he spoke to his executioner about God's love and grace. The executioner was so deeply moved that he asked for forgiveness and surrendered his life to Christ. James forgave him and they embraced. Then he and the executioner were killed together" (that's the way Shane tells the story). He also tells the story about Dirk Willems, a famous Anabaptist martyr of the 1500's who escaped prison before his execution but was pursued on foot across the frozen fields of Holland. One of the guards hot on his heels fell through the ice and Dirk stopped turned around, dove in and rescued the man. He was burned at the stake regardless of the pleas of the guard.
These stories go on and on, each one as powerful as the last. Some from the early church, some from the Christian church in Iraq. They are beautiful testaments to the fact that violence begetts more violence and that LOVE is the greatest power in the world today. That is how I want to live.

S-Doggy

Road Trip to J-Tree

Working at construction is generally good work. Work hard, accomplish lots, come home tired and get stronger every day. Today was a day where nobody really did much, it rained a lot, I did a lot of standing around (not by choice I assure you), and it was about zero degrees all day... and did I mention it was raining... and Monday. Brian just flat out quit at about 11:00 and went home. It was definitely one of those days.
Anyways, my semester is now over... I know it was short but I still did about 15 credits of course work. As instructed by our program director some of my class mates and I took a week and a half and went on a road trip to Joshua Tree National park in southern California right next to Palm Springs. We camped there in the park and climbed the vicious J-tree rock for 9 days. It was amazing. The desert is so beautiful. It produced for us beautiful sunsets and sunny days every day that we were there. For those of you who know a little bit about rock climbing it was the first time that I had ever lead-climbed on Traditional Protection (cams and nuts). It was both challenging and exhilarating and I loved every minute of it.
This trip was also fantastic because of the deeper sense of community that was developed and fostered in our Outdoor Leadership class. I think we looked a lot more like the church at the end of the week than we did at the beginning and it was awesome. I had been praying that God would use this time of us being together to allow us to go deeper and he totally did. The Holy Spirit was there and bringing his unity, fruit, gifts and wisdom. One night we went and slept out in the middle of the desert in this natural amphitheater that we had found. We bought a bag of tea lights and placed them all around the rocks giving the ring a beautiful almost romantic atmosphere. We then proceeded to fall asleep under the dark, moonless, shooting star-filled desert sky and it was awesome. On a different night we shared communion together and it was a beautiful time of remembrance of our Lord. It was however rudely interrupted by a huge, and rather bold rat that crawled over Alle and I while we were praying!!! It was rather exciting.
So I am home for a while now and I'm working for Thomas Bradley Construction trying to afford my next semester of school. However that is secondary to my latest endeavour to become a youth sponsor at Willingdon's youth group. I'm really looking forward to investing in the lives of young people again in that way.
I hope you all are well. I'll leave you with some pictures of our climbing trip.

The crystals in the granite at J-Tree are really big and therefore really sharp and therefore much of our blood was spilled at Joshua Tree.

Lacing up for a 5.9 overhanging roof route that put me on top of the rock outcrop just in time to build my anchor for Alle and watch the sun set as I belayed him to the top.

Here's daddy Boodt reading Redwall to Robert and Stewart as they fell asleep in his lap :)

This is me on top of a 5.3 route called 'Ski-track' actually it might have been my first traditional multi pitch send with Sheldon called 'Mike's Book'... I got a sweet compliment on my killer floral spandex shorts from some guys from Colorado :) you can't really see them in this one but you will.

Sheldon and I on top of 'Mike's Book'

Here I am belaying Alle up a 5.8 route... for the keen observer I am using a Munter Hitch as a belay device.

Here is Elena and myself on top of Headstone Rock. This rock sat about fifty feet off the ground on top of a boulder pile and was very much visible from our campsite and therefore a desirable objective for us. I had the first ascent from our group on the most exhilarating and exposed 5.6 I have ever climbed in my life!

Here is a beauty shot of my floral spandex... don't worry folks I would only ever bring such atrocious clothing on a rock climbing trip very far from home. And I definitely wore them every day. On a side note, spandex are the ultimate climbing attire providing the climber with an unbeatable range of motion.

Here's Robert owning the 5.8 on Headstone. This one was also very exposed but a lot of fun. When I was climbing the center route on this rock I left a blood trail all the way up cause I tore my finger one one of the moves at the beginning.

This was me just finishing up our group's first ascent on a 5.10b called 'Poodles are People Too'. This climb was the hardest climb that I have every finished in my entire life and I did it on Trad Lead. It was such a beautiful finger crack/face climb and 100ft long too.

This is how rock climbers get strong... coiling ropes.

Here's Elena Kangas soaking up the sun with a beautiful Yucca tree in the background. Yucca trees earned the name Joshua trees because when the Mormons were passing through the desert they thought that the trees looked like when Joshua held up his arms until the Israelites won their battle.

Another testament of the destructive power of Joshua tree rock. After our day of bouldering I think that every one of had at least several bloody patches on our bodies.

This is Sheldon, Matt and I on our first day climbing.

My mom says this was a Cana Lily... I didn't like that I had to ask her but I did. It is breath-taking.

Sheldon and I trying to find the 'Dairy Queen' Wall.