Death by Extension Cord

I've been getting a little bit frustrated lately and I will tell you why. At my jobsite we are currently framing a large, multi-residence structure. As it happens, a number of corded tools are necissary for this venture. Skill saws, sawzalls, nail guns, hammer drills, and grinders in bountiful quantities. Some need power, some need air, but all have either a hose or a cord attached to them and then running off to some distant object of provision.
Spending all of this time surrounded by these inanimate snakes has brought me to the startling discovery of what has now become Reimer's First Law of Extension Cords: Anything that can be snagged will be snagged. This I have personally proven on multiple occasions to be a constant Law at work in a number of different environments. Objects including but not limited to nails, chunks of concrete, other cords, random objects that you never even knew existed until you caught an extension cord on them, are all readily snagged at any and every available point in time.
However, after submitting my first theory to the board of Extension Cord Sciences to be tested and scrutinized, I began formulating a second theory directly hinged on the first. This will hopefully become Reimer's Second Law of Extension Cords: Anything that has become snagged will not become unsnagged unless the direct reversal of the original direction of travel has been achieved. This theory of course, only comes into play once the first law has already been implemented. The application of this theory is what really allows my frustration to mature in full. You see, the moment Reimer's First Law of Extension Cords rears its ugly head, I know that the second Law is not far behind. I will have to spend valuable time searching for the origin of the snag, which once found often requires more time to strategize how to go about fixing what can quickly become an extension cord fiasco.
Sometimes, as one who is frequently subjected to these laws of the Physical world, I will encounter multiple instances of Reimer's First Law even within the span of a minute. If you are one to become easily angered, I would encourage you to start working with extension cords and allow the Holy Spirit to give you strength in your weakness :) Good times all around.

Catering to Beimers... and everyone else I left in the dark

I was hired by the City of Surrey as a Guide in the Outdoor Services "arm" of their Parks and Recreation "branch". So that includes doing everything from hiking, to snowshoeing, to rock climbing, to kayaking, to canoeing, to mountain biking, to planning programs and working on administrative stuff. It is mostly evenings and weekends so I'm currently still shopping around for full time day work... and tonight I had a little chat with my summer foreman and he finally has some room at one of his sites. So on tuesday I'll start work with Tom and hopefully that will keep me occupied until I start instructing canoeing five days a week for the City of Burnaby Parks and Rec (a job which I haven't fully sealed but getting closer). I will be doing the Surrey job all-the-while on the occasional evening and Saturday. After canoeing is done in June, I hope to begin work for camp Madawaska which would be a sweet set-up. I would be working Monday through Thursday all summer making a very good wage and teaching kids canoeing, going on nature walks, teaching them to chop firewood, cook outside, leading them in campfire games and songs, and just being a group leader. On Thursday, the overtime that I would work would pay as though I'd work friday, but I don't... I would get a three day weekend every weekend. So then if I wanted I could jump into a couple days of labour work... or keep helping out Surrey on the weekends and evenings. So that's the short version... and largely speculative at this point, but hopeful. Whether it works out or not, the only place you'll find me is seeking to do God's will in my life.
I hope that sufices, Beimers.

First Day at the Office

These mountains mark the 49th parrallel.

Baker in a shabby impression of the splendour of God.
It was pretty much a gorgeous day.

This isn't a good picture of the view... because we could see Harrison Lake tucked in behind that first ridge.

Thus began the saga of Stewart Reimer in the employment of the City of Surrey. Snowshoeing at Hemlock Resort... and getting paid? Who knew? I pretty much spent the day showing off my knowledge of our natural surroundings... and snowshoeing.

Ahh the Profound Minds

I've been reading Philip Yancey's "Reaching for the Invisible God" and I came across some noteworthy quotes:

C.S. Lewis setting out the clear way to promote God's absence- "Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you'd be safer to stick to the papers. You'll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal."

Augustine expressing the paradox of the omnipotent God and Jesus – "Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life may die."

Yancey recalls how his Japanese Christian friends negate the American Missionaries familiar approach to God- “We know how to come to God as humble servants with boldness. You don’t have to tell Japanese people about hierarchy. When they learn that God is the Lord they immediately know all the implications of that. They know who’s boss and that is never questioned. When they pray they use language that combines the highest forms of speech and the most intimate phrases of love and devotion. When they ask for something they ask with true humility, knowing they have no right to what they’re asking except that God gives them the very right to ask and promises to answer.”

Yancey – “I cannot learn from Jesus why bad things occur – why an avalanche or flood decimates one town and not its neighbor, why leukemia strikes one child and not another – but I can surely learn how God feels about such tragedies. I simply look at how Jesus responds to the sisters of his good friend Lazarus, to a widow who has just lost her son, or a leprosy victim banned outside the town gates. Jesus gives God a face, and that face is streaked with tears… if we doubt God, or find him incomprehensible, unknowable, the very best cure is to gaze steadily at Jesus, the Rosetta stone of faith.”

Actually the whole book is noteworthy (so far). I'll let you know if that changes...

Winner of "The Most Touching Performance of the Year"

I think Billy Boyd should get an Oscar for his vocal in "the Return of the King". Just a personal opinion... maybe that's because I'm listening to it right now and want to cry :)

I heard a woman speak today at the FVCH chapel who works in the Jacob's Well mission in Downtown Vancouver. She told us that she originally thought that by befriending the 16,000 drug addicted people in the neighborhood surrounding Main and Hastings, that she would be Jesus to those people. She then shared with us Matthew 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' "
She realized that those drug addicted people are actually Jesus to her. That when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was he replied, "To Love the Lord your God with all your heart and to Love your Neighbor as yourself". Then an expert in the law needed him to clarify who your neighbor is so Jesus graces him with a response in the form of a parable. It was the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This woman challenged us to change the world... it seems like everyone is doing that now-a-days... which is not at all a bad thing. She said because we were young that we had a head start on her in practicing James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Aside from mother Teresa, this woman told of her mentor, an old 90 year old lady who after becoming a Christian late in life, spent then till now befriending the drug addicted community of Vancouver. She would walk down the street and as drugs were being handed off for money, this feeble old lady would place her hand on theirs and say, "Now boys, God has something so much better for the two of you." They would then proceed to open up to her about their day and what brought them to this point of going out for drugs again. Then they would ASK her to pray for them! She new everyone in the community by name and they new her name. She has spent her life serving Jesus very literally.
When she was done speaking my heart was heavy, but I couldn't help rejoicing for the life of this old woman and the ministry that she inspired.

Oh the Possibilities

Over the past month I've really been prodding at a couple of different opportunities to get plugged into some employment in the field of Outdoor Recreation. Currently none of them are 100% and half of the positions I applied for didn't come with a description of what kind of position they really were, so I'm a little bit in the dark. However, on Wednesday I had an interview with a couple of "Outdoor Services Programmers" from the city of Surrey. The first peculiarity was the fact that they wanted me to come from 1:00-2:00. Now I'm not a particularly well traveled interviewee, but I think an hour is a long time to sit in a room and answer questions and therefore I was a little bit more concerned about this interview than I would have been originally. My mind's in overdrive and I'm thinking how they might be getting me to do a skill assessment or something scary like that.
I get there, I sit down and I answered their questions for an hour! Sometimes fairly uncomfortably on my part but they were really good about it and I think they really liked me. I even got to tell them both about what you do when you see a bear or a cougar. Then as I'm leaving they go and tell me that they'd hopefully get back to me in a couple of weeks! So right away I'm thinking, "Crap! There goes that opportunity". Today (Friday) I get a phone call. It's the Scott from the City of Surrey wondering if I can get a criminal record check so that "we" can proceed to the next stage of the "process". It was all very secretive so when I met him I asked him exactly what that next stage would be. He told me with a smirk that he wasn't allowed to tell me! I found that kinda funny/frustrating. Anyhow, I got my criminal record check done (didn't even have to pay for it!) and now I guess I'm waiting for "the next stage" to commence. Goodness gracious. Can't a man just get a straight answer?
Hope all your mid-terms are going well.