Why Benazir Bhutto's Death Matters

Just in case anyone reading this has had their head in the sand recently or has been away from any media over the holidays, Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan was assassinated yesterday.

Sadly the importance of this event will likely be lost on most Canadians.

So why does the death of Benazir Bhutto matter?

First, let me tell you a bit more of who she was:

She was the Prime Minister of Pakistan twice during the years of 1988-1996. While both her terms in office were brief and plagued with problems and numerous accusations, she was a leading voice for change in Pakistan. In her own words:

"I am a female political leaders fighting to bring modernity, communication, education and technology to Pakistan." May, 2007

Human history has been littered with the assassinations of numerous leaders, and people are dying and being killed every day in the world; what makes Bhutto's death any different?

Firstly because she was a leader fighting for major changes, including democracy, for Pakistan, which is a country fraught with religious and political extremists which causes continual instability.

Secondly, she was a woman leader, and in Pakistan, that is a BIG deal. She was the first woman to become the leader of a Muslim nation. There are very few women Presidents and Prime Ministers in the world in modern times, let alone in a Muslim country!

She was also surrounded by controversy and probably made many mistakes, but the fact that a Muslim woman who was educated at Oxford and Harvard, was able to rise up, stand for change and become the Prime Minister of a major Muslim nation such as Pakistan, is amazing.

The final reason why I think that Bhutto's death matters is this:

She knew what she believed in and was unashamed in voicing her beliefs, even in the face of continued threats against her life. In the end, those threats were realized and she paid for her beliefs with her life. In that sense, she was her own kind of extremist: she stood for and voiced opinions that were quite unpopular, that ran against the cultural grain of her country,in a non-violent fashion . She remained unwavering in her commitment to her belief in democracy and freedom.

Obviously the strongest people in the world are those who stand up for what they believe in, even against those who promote their own beliefs through violent intolerance.

I am inspired by people with such courage and I think that her death should matter to all of us.

Prince of Peace

At this time of year it's common to hear the name 'Prince of Peace' to describe Jesus.

Yesterday I was thinking about how important inner peace is in our lives... well, in my life! I was thinking about how much the enemy does to take away our peace and I got to realizing how important our inward peace must be. Far more important than most of us normally think.

Somehow I'm used to hearing people talk about how stressed out they are, how busy they are, and how worried and anxious they are. The result is that we end up living with an absence of peace in our lives!

Understanding that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, it's more than Jesus valuing peace or even bringing peace to the world; the question is more HOW Jesus brings peace to the earth.

Watchman Nee wrote that

When the Holy Spirit is working, He needs to be carried by the human spirit. The electricity in an electric bulb does not travel like lightening. It must be conducted through electric wires. If you want to use electricity you need an electric wire to bring it to you. In like manner, the Spirit of God employs the human spirit as His carrier, and through it He is brought to man.

How will Jesus, the Prince of Peace, bring peace to the earth? I believe that it will be through US as His people. It will not be independent of us, but through us.

Not only am I to be at peace for my own benefit, but also for the benefit of others around me. I am to be His means of bringing peace to earth! This is very powerful to realize!

Usually one of the stressful times of the day for me is right in the morning when I'm trying to get the kids off to school on time! There usually isn't very much peace in my life at that time, and it's the start of my day!

I've known this for a long time, but the way I handle things in the mornings has a direct impact on my kids and how their day will go at school. I felt yesterday and today that God was reminding me that He wants to use me to bring peace to their lives each day of the week. That's powerful! (it also feels like a pretty tall order sometimes!)

So I'm feeling challenged and inspired today.

Black out

Society loves to see people fall.

Today in papers around Canada and the U.S., stories tell the sentence given to Conrad Black and also to Michael Vick.

So here is some more various thoughts I've had as I read today's Journal:

1) I'm glad that the Conrad Black thing is over, simply because I just didn't care. I'm sure he's an arrogant guy, but I don't care whether he goes to jail very much.

2) Disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to nearly 2 YEARS for his involvement in an illegal dog fighting operation. Look, I think what he did was wrong; he broke the law. I also like dogs but come on....lets get real! 2 YEARS for dog fights and cruelty to animals? There are drunk drivers who get WAY less of a sentence.... So let's see here: dog fighting or DRUNK DRIVING....which is more serious? If Vick deserves 2 years, then drunk drivers deserve a LOT stiffer a sentence than most of them get!

3) On the front page was a story of a young man who got a car insurance renewal notice for $104,000. He had 10 speeding tickets and 3 accidents on his record. Sure, nobody can afford that amount for insurance, but THAT'S THE POINT! The guy shouldn't be driving. AT ALL! The guy is 19 for crying out loud. Thankfully the young man is moving to B.C. At least I won't have to worry about being on the same road as the guy!

4) There's a crappy story about a retired school teacher who got trapped inside a toilet at a lawn bowling club for 4 DAYS!!! The door jammed and the handle fell off on the outside. He had no cell phone with him. I would have gone completely insane!


So not too many deep thoughts this time; sometimes it's nice to keep it on the lighter side of things!

wonderings

So yesterday was "tree day" in our house! When I arrived home after church, Rebekah and Josiah informed me that that it was tree day and it was my duty to go and get a Christmas tree. We usually get our tree from Save On Foods and this year, and I was really pumped at how the tree actually turned out. It's hard to get an idea of how it will look when its all bundled up at the store. But as you can see, we have a beautiful tree this year. We're all quite proud.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. After setting up the tree, I settled downstairs to cheer on the Patriots as they kicked some Steeler butt!



In the midst of it all there, here are some of my latest wonderings...

Why do psycho's like Willie Pickton always seem to quote the Bible? Is it just because Christianity is the foundational religion in the West? I suspect there's more to it than that!

Why did the shootings over the weekend not make Monday's Edmonton Journal? I know there are lots of shootings (sadly) but this was a man shooting 4 people at a YWAM missionary base outside Denver! Plus, the man escaped and is (was?) on the loose!

Why did it bother me so much this morning when the piano tuner came to our house and because I had forgotten about the appointment, the house was still a TOTAL disaster... why is my pride so strong that I wished that the floor boards would suddenly open up and swallow me up? (the good news was that I was highly motivated to clean feverishly while he was here!)

Whatever happened to the great moves of God in the 80's and 90's? In the 80's God established the Vineyard movement and in the 90's there was the renewal of the Holy Spirit that swept around the world. Those people who never liked them will delight in their essential disappearance, but what is God doing these days?

Why is God's activity these days so much more subtle and difficult to identify? Sure there is lots that God is doing, but not really anything on the scale of what He did in the 80's and 90's. At least not in my eyes.

What needs to be done to correct the pervasive notion in the church that it's God's job to make our lives work out all the time? Maybe we need more preaching on the book of Job!


I'm not particularly dwelling on any of these questions... they are more of a snapshot of some of the thoughts and internal dialogues that I've been having lately. Some are here today and gone tomorrow, while others seem to reappear every once in a while.

So that's what's new... for those who are wondering! :)

Tragedy in Denver

Word just came in that there was a terrible attack at the Denver YWAM, where a gunman went onto the missions base and started shooting people. At least 2 people are known dead and 2 are critically injured.

The reports are that a man came to the base seeking a place to stay, but when he was told that it wasn't possible because the base was already at maximum capacity, he started to shoot people. At this time, the gunman is still being sought by police.



Unbelievably, 12 hours later, (this morning!) a gunman went to New Life Church in Colorado and started shooting in the parking lot! Reports are currently that only the gunman was killed and that possibly 2 people were injured.

Police say that the 2 incidents are not connected.

Obviously there are more details that will be coming in the next few days, but as of right now, that's what we know.

I think it's very important for us to pray about these events and the people who are impacted by them.

What Happens in Vegas...

I'm currently watching an episode of CSI, which is one of my favorite TV shows. The fact that it takes place in Vegas motivated me to blog a bit more about my recent first visit to Las Vegas.


Las Vegas is primarily about gambling, drinking and sex. At least that's what I thought before I went there. Now I'd say it's more uniquely about gambling, entertainment shows and over the top hotels, and more commonly, about drinking, sex and shopping.


The hotel below is one of the best on the Strip and it's also one of my favorites: The Bellagio


This is the Wynn Hotel. It's arguably the best hotel in Vegas. It cost 2.7 billion to build, has 2700 rooms, an 111,000 sq. ft. casino and an 18 hole golf course.


Going to Vegas and thinking about the group that I'd be there with, I assumed that they would be reasonably into 'partying'. One of the main surprises about the trip was that I was wrong about the party dimension. They just weren't really a wild party group. There certainly isn't anything wrong with that; I mean, let's be honest: I'm definitely not a 'party person' myself!

I was also surprised that virtually none of the people in the group were particularly interested in running the Vegas marathon again next year. Usually in the hype and excitement of a trip cause people to say something along the lines of 'we HAVE to do this again next year!' It was just interesting because we all had a really great time, and we all ran really great times, so you would think that people would want to 'do it again next year'.

Despite that fact that, spiritually speaking, it is a very dark place, I still enjoyed it a lot. I really enjoyed the show that we went to, and I also loved looking at these incredible hotels. I loved running the race along the strip and being part of such a huge race. I only wish we'd been able to go to more shows and spend more time in the better hotels.

So would I go back again to Vegas? Yes I would. I hope to.

1:48:35

Well, I'm back from Las Vegas and running in the Vegas Half Marathon!
It was unlike anything I've been part of before!


It was a fantastic experience and I ran it in 1hr. 48min. 35sec. (my official chip time!) My previous best time was 1:57 for the half, so I took off about 9 minutes from my previous personal best time, so I am VERY happy with my time.

There were 8166 people who finished the half, and my overall place was 659th (529th among the men)




There were about about 20 people from our clinic who trained for the event, and I knew between 12-15 of them. (some were training for the walking half and full events, and others rarely came to the clinic runs)

The weather was pretty good on race day. I was a bit worried on Saturday when we arrived because it was very windy, but on Sunday, there was no wind.



I think that nearly everybody in our group was really pleased with their times in the race. It was too bad that because of the size of the race, we couldn't see most of our friends arrive across the finish line.

I'll have more to say on the whole experience soon, but for now, that's how the race went!