Ever woke up in the morning and just didn’t want to wake up at all…?
I’ve been feeling that lately and it just BOTHERS me. I’m normally a chip and cheery person and I’m up and about pretty early in the morning - but it’s like my passion for life is being sucked dry out of me.

I’ve thought about it and prayed about it and am beginning to think that there’s more to life than… this.
What I mean by “this” is that there’s more to life than the rat race, than working mindless hours to accomplish nothing more than make some numbers on a piece of paper.

Ever felt like you were made for so much more?

My buddy’s nickname on MSN right now is “Good is the Enemy of Great” - and it is so true. How often are we settling for what we believe is “good” yet we’re missing out on something great and amazing that God has in store for us?
It’s like wasted grace.

Every time I’ve been to the Mustard Seed and have worked there, my heart burns with a passion for the plea of the street people and the homeless and the working poor. Every time I walk downtown, my heart cries and is torn between agony and anger as I see people who are trapped in a vicious circle of homelessness, poverty and drugs.

Recently I was conversing with a friend and she had made a wonderful point: As Christians, we’re called to do more than just “throw money at a charity” - we’re called to serve and to help those who cannot help themselves!
She referred to the days of Jesus when the poor did not have ANY rights in society - they didn’t have social programs, they didn’t have social standing for that matter!

And yet in today’s society, the social programs and infrastructure are in place, yet they still do nothing to help these people get back onto their feet. So what’s the missing ingredient to make things work? It’s YOU and ME.

The infrastructure and programs do nothing if we do not invest in these people and have a desire to see them be more and do more with their lives.

Yet so often, we sit at home or at our desks, comfortable and unaware that there is a greater calling in our lives to do more to help our neighbors.

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Okay, so I just got an opportunity to watch August Rush again (BECAUSE I BOUGHT IT!! WOOT).
It’s such a wonderful movie. I remember the first time I had watched it, I wasn’t quite sure what to really define it as. And so I had read a review and the movie critic summed it best by calling it a “modern day fairy tale”.

It has all the makings of a fairy tale: a protagonist, a challenge, an antagonist, something to fight for/or a dream to reach. The wonderful part about August Rush is that it makes your heart feel so warm watching it.

So I got to thinking while I was watching the movie: why as we grow older, do we forget our love for fairy tales?

Read more after the jump… »

Things to do:

Skydive

Go to Australia

Go to New Zealand

Have a trip to Southern France

Trip to Italy

United Kingdom

Go to a Tennis Grand Slam

Get a motorcyle license

Get a motorcycle

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First one on the list: Skydiving - June 21st!!!

Okay, so I don’t think I’ve ever shared any Bible verses yet on the blog, so here goes.
If I can pass on ANY knowledge at all that I have to anyone, it would be this Bible verse.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.

Ever since high school, this verse has been the pedestal of my life.
Have I kept it consistently? No. But I sure always end up returning to this verse!

Read more after the jump… »

I’m back from a short jaunt to Kananaskis and am completely worn out physically!

My buddies and I went camping and intended to go on a short hike and we ended up taking on a 5 hour hike and all of us ended up physically worn out and some of us (myself in particular) over-worked out muscles on our hike! My right leg feels like it’s going to fall off at some point and my right arm is just owned!

It was the most intense hike I’ve ever gone on!

We originally intended to just “do a hike” and we ended up hiking an entire mountain!

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We went to Barrier Lake thinking the hike was just up the side of the mountain and back down to the lake - that’s what the map said!Instead, the trail led us UP the mountain, traversing crazy inclines and paths ladened with black ice! My buddy Chris actually slid down a section of the path because he didn’t have enough grip on his shoes!

We didn’t realize we were hiking the whole mountain until we came to a clearing and on one side of the mountain was the view of the lake and on the other side was a valley and plains.

Because we couldn’t head back the way we came from because of the ice and the inclines, we kept going forward and we got above the tree line. I’ve NEVER hiked beyond the tree line before!

We faced some crazy inclines of about 60 degrees! That kills your legs and even worse, it kills your lungs because you can’t breathe!

The final part of the ascent to the top of the mountain involved us having to actually get on our hands and feet and climb up a small area that got us to the top.
It was a breath-taking view and scary at the same time!
I could not have imagined at the beginning of the hike that we were going to hike an entire mountain!

After 15 minutes of searching, we finally found the path down and started hiking down.

I don’t think I will be hiking again anytime soon!

Word of Advice: Before you go hiking ANYWHERE - do your research!!

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Okay, so I’ve been playing with my Macbook Pro for a few weeks now and absolutely adore it.
I don’t think I’d switch back to a PC ever.

The only issue is trying to find programs that were similar to the ones I was used to using on my Desktop PC. Particularly, finding a usable and powerful blog client like Windows Live Writer. Currently I’m trying out ScribeFire for Firefox to type out this post.

I’ve tried like 3 other blog clients and they all were under-powered and basically useless!

Another painful loss of not having is Microsoft OneNote. I wish OSX had something just as powerful and similar (and free!) to use!

Oh well, patience is the key I believe!

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A few of us went to the Mustard Seed yesterday to help prepare meals for the organization.

If you have never been to the Mustard Seed (or a similar-type organization), you really should take the opportunity to head down there (whether it is the downtown or the Foothills location) and really see what life is like the homeless and working poor in Calgary.

Calgary’s affluence and immense growth have left many individuals and families in a state of financial frustration, unable to purchase or even pay for housing.

Read more after the jump… »

Okay, so my second random day trip was definitely random and slightly planned! WOOT!

I’m glad I took a day off just to chillax with my sister and my friends!
We went down to Inglewood, one of the oldest (if not the oldest) districts in our city (that’s receiving a much needed and awesome trendier facelift) for food, fun and photography!

We then hit up several other locales around town, traveling over 60km for photography! Much less than our 260km for the last trip!

Next Trip: DRUMHELLER … when it’s warmer!

So last Saturday, I went with my buddy Dan and my little sister and we went to Banff on a whim.

It was such a blast because I did no planning for it!! HAHAHA.

It’s such a nice thing to just go on random trips sometimes.
Unfortunately, my next trip will be semi-planned since a few more people will be attending.

DRUMHELLER… Here we come!

Okay… I know I promised these pics like WEEKS ago.
Life happens! LOL

Well here are some pics for you to take a gander at.
All the pics can be viewed at HERE

In the meantime, ENJOY!

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