If I ran the Big 3 car companies

-I would see if I could get someone working inside Honda or Toyota just to take in what the corporate culture was. They've done lots of things right and now isn't the time to be arrogant.

-I would take the time to figure out what the average person wants to drive. Just because I make lots of cars doesn't mean people want to drive them.

-I would actually DRIVE what the average person wants to drive and travel how the average business person travels. Taking corporate jets right now just shows how far out of touch these guys are.

-When asking for money, be polite and courteous. The UAW has completely antagonized everyone whenever they talk. Yes it's the government giving the money but it's the taxpayer that's paying it. Being protectionistic and conceited at this point is the only thing killing them faster than making cars that have 10 mpg.

A business is simple. Find something that people really want and sell it for more than you pay for it. In order to do that, set a fair wage for the ground level worker (NOT $70 an hour) and keep bureaucracy to a minimum. Pay well but comparable. Making 35 million a year and having big payout bonusses when your competition is 100x more successful and making 10% what you make isn't going to work no matter what the business.

Time to move on North America. Yes, we will lose a lot of jobs and the economy will tank big time in the short term. But pouring 100 million into an industry that is doomed to fail is only going to make it worse. If the big 3 fail now, Toyota and Honda will buy these plants up and produce more here creating the jobs we're talking about. And it will invite others to come and do the same - built on a plan that lasts. In the long term, we have more jobs and an industry that needs to look forward and not backwards. It's a win/win for everyone - including the taxpayer that wants accountability for their hard earned tax dollars and the front line worker that really just wants some job security and not being laid off every other month.

I guess it isn't really EVERYONE that wins...the 10 executives that make in excess of 40 million a year might retire since they realize that for 99.999% of the population, they will never see in their lifetime what they make in a week. And the unions won't like it because they'll lose their ability to be entitled to everything just because they have a big membership.

adversity

Whenever it snows, I get the incurable urge to go driving around on the roads. I'm not sure why - something to prove maybe - or just because it's a challenge that's kinda fun. Driving in the snow in our new 4WD made me especially eager this morning. When I was on the road, I observed a few things:

-people in Victoria don't know how to drive in the snow. This is well documented so I won't elaborate much but people - seriously - flooring the gas when you have no traction means nothing. You make ice under your tires if you're stopped and if you're moving, it means you'll lose control.

-a note to pedestrians - if you see a car spinning its tires, get the $%^$#$ out of the way! Don't stand there with a smile on your face looking up the hill to check it out. I saw at least two pedestrians stop dead in their tracks while checking out the spinning out car.

-shopping. Best day to shop by far, was today. I was actually walked around Walmart by two employees to help me find my stuff. When I was done, I had 5 empty cashiers willing to serve me. Snow at Christmas time = lots of employees, no shoppers.

What was kinda cool though was that I noticed how much friendlier people are when there's snow outside. Logic says we should be grumpier - we travel even slower than our usual road raging selves and there's no rhyme or reason to traffic patterns and the roads are not clearly marked AT ALL. On a sunny day, if any of those things happened, we'd be fuming. But on snowy days, we're okay with it. Not only that, people stop to help others. Most people stop if there's a car on the side of the road or stuck somewhere. People will lend shovels or lend a hand where needed.

I remember the big snowfall of 96. People in Victoria will forever remember and talk about that. It's as big of an event as Victoria will ever have. I had lived in the same house for 14 years and hardly knew my neighbors. But after that big snowfall, I'd met most of them - been invited for drinks and shared a laugh. And because of losing power for that full day and a bit, my family had to learn to play board games and talk again.

So it kinda makes me wonder. Why would any of us want sunny days?

Only in the church

I went to worship at my old church a couple weeks ago. I could hardly keep it together all service. I miss that place and those people.

For all the complaining I hear from people about the "church" and how much harm it does, that's not the church that I know. It's not the church that God created. And it wasn't my last church.

As I looked around while singing, I saw one guy singing with his eyes closed who I know has struggled with serious addictions his whole life.

A woman is singing with her hands raised just a little over a year after her teenage daughter died from a congential illness.

A young adult that's more than a little eccentric has invited a small group of her friends that love and accept her just as she is and not as she "should" be.

A man stands up and shares about the struggles he is having with his son as others pray for him.

That's the church I know and I can't imagine life without them.

Eric's wedding

It's been a while since I've been at or in a wedding. As great as it is officiating a wedding, it doesn't really allow for an objective perspective on a wedding. Not that my brother getting married gives any objective perspective either but I definitely noticed some different things.

1) As you get older, the people that you want to come to your wedding decreases. When I look back at my wedding video and guest book, I scratch my head a lot wondering who a particular person was or why they came. Granted, I was a youth pastor in a church so many from the congregation came but I also remember having a really difficult time narrowing our guest list at our reception to 160 people. As I looked around the wedding last week, I couldn't think of many more than one or two people that Eric would have wanted to be there. If I got married today, I'd bet we could do a reception for 100 without much problem.

2) While the number decreases, each friendship is deeper. Every single person at the wedding had a connection to our family. Some were connected through parents etc. but they were all people that could have gone up and shared a story of some kind. That was cool to hear all the stories as I walked around the room.

3) The ceremony means so much more than it used to. Obviously, my ceremony meant a lot to me but generally speaking, these days going to one wedding is really close to going to any other wedding. Every couple wants their ceremony short and sweet. Vows are pretty similar for the most part. There's a message of some kind. Rings get exchanged. But being at Eric's wedding and hearing them share the vows they shared knowing how the 11 years of marriage have been for us - with the best and worst yet to come - just makes those words mean so much more. The reason that vows are always similar is maybe because they are the most profound and anything else would be less. The ceremony wasn't sentimentally meaningful like it used to be. It was profoundly meaningful.

I've never been close family to someone getting married. My whole life it was always Chris and Eric. It was kinda weird to see my bro so happy and in love with his bride. But in some kinda weird way, I felt like I was giving him away as well. I couldn't be happier for him but couldn't help but think for a minute that life for us wasn't ever going to be the same.

The last thing I noticed is that it is official. Somewhere along the line, I went from being the youngest in a crowd to one of the oldest. I hope I never have to jump for a picture again.

Today

After a week of being sick and a weekend with two hockey games and a full day volleyball tournament, I was pretty wiped out. So I got up late this morning. In half an hour, I had to shower and get ready, get the kids breakfast, dressed, and ready to go to school. I thought I had it just in time when I remembered I had to make lunch. The bigger problem was that I hadn't gone shopping this week yet and we had no food - no bread, veggies, fruit or anything else that is generally a staple lunch food. I managed to scrounge it all together and got out the door. Thankfully, the traffic wasn't that bad and after fighting for a parking spot in the school parking lot, I managed to get Jordan out the door just in time for the bell to ring.

Then I made my trip to the grocery store where for the next hour, I was battling the shopping cart, outrageous grocery prices, constant questions from my 4 year old and trying to remember what I had to buy since I'd left my list at home.

There is two loads of laundry that need to be folded and probably another load developing as I write this. I need to vacuum, mop and dust - again. Then I'll make another lunch, drive all over town chauffering my kids around and then prepare another snack because, once again, they are hungry. Thanks to the weird 25 degree temperature in late September (which I love incidentally), I have to mow the lawn again for the last time before the fall. Dinner is being prepped as I write though so at least that's taken care of.

And then there's the hockey emails that I'm procrastinating getting to...

It's been 121 days as a housedad and counting.

And I wouldn't trade one of those days for anything in the world. Being able to watch God grow these kids during this time of their lives is worth 1000 days of playing volleyball, 100 weekends away in Vegas and there's no amount of money that would make me change my mind right now. I'll never get these days back and with each lunch, snack and one sided conversation I have each day, I'm convinced that there's no bigger ministry, no better way to serve God, than what I am doing right now.

I'm not guaranteeing I'll feel that way 121 days from now. But as it always is. I'm thankful for the day I have as its challenges are all that I need to deal with right now.

the way i was taught

When I was a leader in training at camp (it was called counsellor in training at the time), we were taught some things that have stuck with me my whole life. When I go to camp these days, it seems so many of the staff have their focus in the wrong places (on themselves!) and on what they are entitled to. Drives me crazy...

Here's some things we did as CITs.

-we always went last. Tuck, mealtime, waterfront, game time, anything. Everyone always went first. Our food was cold. We were left with the worst choice in tuck. Often we were left out of tubing because there wasn't time. We learned to never win games. I think the hallmark of a Christian in the 21st century isn't love as much as it is humility. There's lots of people that love exceptionally. But to find a humble servant that bears others pain without recognition is impossible.

-we were there for 2 weeks and for the whole first week, we couldn't talk to staff. When I say couldn't talk, I mean we weren't allowed - at all. We were there to observe - that's it. We watched what they did and write stuff down about what we were learning. Then we'd talk about it that night. We learned to listen. Everyone these days wants the status of being a staff. But a good staff is someone that knows how to just BE and let their lives speak for itself.

-we weren't allowed in the staff room at all. In those days, they called us "pond scum". (Now that I'm older, I can't see how the director ever allowed that to happen.)

-we were always on the cleanup crew. Dishes were always our job. The staff never knew this but everytime we were in a cabin, the CIT leaders asked us to do the sweeping, the mopping, the scraping - whatever was necessary. CITs set up the games and then we took them down.

-we were told to have 3 conversations about God a day - 2 to campers and 1 to another CIT or CIT leader. No one knew this was something we were supposed to do but we journalled about it and then debriefed it later. Two things happened. I became very comfortable talking about my faith and I became much better at making any time with campers into quality time with them.

-once it became time to help (instead of watch), we were told to always be with our campers. There was no break in the day. I don't think it ever occurred to me to skip out an activity or a game. As a staff, I never dreamt of sneaking out at night to leave my cabin unattended. I wasn't paid a dime my first 3 summers at camp.

You know what was weird? The CIT program was always full.

i wanna be thankful

The other day I was driving the kids out to a park and they asked for their VBS cd to be put in. I wasn't thrilled about listening to this CD for the 5th time of the day. But at the playground, they were playing and singing, "I wanna be thankful". I never understood why parents were so impatient about their kids knowing Jesus. Until I became a parent. That made my day.