Off again

I really should be in bed.

But I just got back from having an amazing time with Jon. Much was talked about and it made me feel very good.

I am off to Eagle's Nest tomorrow morning. Since I have not yet packed, I need to go do that. I'll be back on the 2nd full of crazy stories, no doubt. A week of staff training can be fairly crazy out there.

Please pray for Andrew and myself as we travel and go meet with the Lord!

I'll update again in short order!

Drunk or.... drunk...

Well...

These last two days (end of day 8 and the evening of day 9) have provided me with a large specturm of drunk. One make me really happy the other makes me really... hungry.

Happy Drunk: At our Watchmen Prayer Meeting we had an insane time of prayer. We're a hungry lot and are wanting... no... NEEDING the Holy Spirit to come to us like He did that first day of Pentacost. We simply must be changed into the likeness of Christ and we're all on that journey. We all know that one good God encounter can erase years of bad thinking, so we're going for it. Last night at the prayer meeting was what I can only describe as an atomic bomb going off in our midst. That was very easily one of the most powerful times with the Lord I've had in a very, very long time. We came into the throne room with some serious boldness and wouldn't leave until the presence of God arrested our hearts and blew us away.

That mission was a success.

I don't even know how to describe it, other then there were times when I just didn't know what to do with myself, the power of God was so strong. That lasted a while as we prayed earnestly for God to come and transform us once again and then we felt that beautiful covering of peace come over us. It was quite funny, really. We were silent for the longest time and suddenly the laughter started. I kept thinking about that line in Acts, "They are not drunk as you suppose." I'm suspecting it was much the same for we were HOWLING in laughter, much harder then I have seen anyone laugh and for such a sustained time. It was great.

Words just do not describe face to face encounters with God like that. Just trust me... it was AMAZING!!!

Then we fast forward to this evening...

Hungry Drunk: I spent the evening with my good friends Jon, Neil and Aaron. We went to Whyte Ave for a while and took in the tail end of an amazing Jazz show put on at the Yardbird Suite. There is a jazz festival going on right now and this was one astounding act. They blew me away. After, we were hungry so we went and got some pizza. Not before chatting with an amazing drummer who lives in New York and regularly tours with some HUGE names in Jazz. It was neat to talk to this guy - very friendly.

Anyway, we went to get pizza. You can get some good stuff at this place called the "Funky Pickle". Of course you have to walk through a vast section of Whyte Ave and by this time it was past midnight. If you are on Whyte, near midnight on a Friday evening you must be prepared for about 10 blocks crammed full of thousands of insane drunk people. It's party central with a whole ton of bars and clubs. Tonight was a wild night. People were tripping out on drugs, one girl was dancing away to her own music in her head, people were getting ready to hurl, others stumbling around yelling and screaming, highly dysfunctional streets kids (called the street rats) were all over the place pouding out their horribly out of tuned guitars and screaming at the top of their lungs, loud music pumping every two doors out of the bars, people trying to get picked up, others making out all over the place, a 60 year old woman stumbling around so badly I had to ask and make sure she was going to be alright (she slurred something incomprehensible to me) and finally myself and my friends in the middle of this insane mess buying Funky Pickle Pizza.

In the middle of it all I thought to myself, "Where are all the Christians?"

We're supposed to be salt, right? Jesus calls us light. What do you get when you take the light out of the darkness? You are left with dark. What do you get when you take the salt out of the stuff you're supposed to preserve? Rot. Somehow we've got it all turned around in our head that holiness is what you keep yourself away from, when it was never supposed to be like that. Jesus hung out with hookers and crooks. Holiness is not what you seperate yourself from it's what you give yourself to. And in this case, who you give yourself to.

We've been called to reach the world, but so much of the church is afraid of it and I don't know why.

All I kept saying over and over as I saw this kind of drunk was, "I'm so glad I have Jesus." Granted I was not able to talk to every single person out there, but I did when I was able to. It might not have been "repent now, you evil sinner", but it was giving some change away in the name of my Father. It was saying hi and talking a bit - loving in the way that I can. Don Miller who wrote "Blue Like Jazz" put it wonderfully saying that we've turned love into a commodity that we give or hold back depending on our acceptance of a certain person and their actions, when it never was supposed to be like that. We've got to see love like a force that simply and always brings people closer to God. I'll go and love people and invest love into them knowing that it is that love which will go into their spirits and leave them longing for more... not from me... but from the one they have been searching all their lives for.

So I left Whyte Ave witnessing hungry drunk because I left Whyte Ave so hungry for God to come and save those sheep. They're not lost people, they're sheep without a shepard. They are children of God just the same as you and I are. They are you and I without Jesus. They are God's sons and daughters already. What an injustice that they do not yet know. What an even greater injustice that nobody is going to tell them about what is already theirs.

I left Whyte Ave hungry for more. More boldness. More love. More opprotunities. More willingness. More Jesus. More of God's love so I can walk in it and give it away.

More and more God's continuing words to so many people throughout the Bible are echoing in my ears, "Don't be afraid....."

I witnessed happy drunk and hungry drunk. I think they cannot exist without each other. You only get to keep what you give away. You can only give away what you have. I must have more. I must give away more.

Three Cheers for Jet Lag!

Although I still think I'm one of the only people around who regularly gets jet lagged but never leaves my time zone, it's still not as fun as the real stuff. Like what BritishTrishapaints is feeling right now.

Uggg... that's gross, but push through Trisha! Push through!

Speaking of Jet Lag, I'm currently amazed at the linkage of people around the world. It's really cool. Soon my friends will be covering the planet. I was thinking of that today and the thought crossed my mind of... "what a strange existence we have..."

Friends all over the USA, two in Hong Kong, one in a remote part of China secretly spreading the Gospel... funny story about that one... God kind of just tricked him into it, Trisha's over in England, people in Scotland, Jodi and Candice are in Australia, some in Germany and Switzerland, Andy in Norway (he was just made Corporal today - congrats!), Cam and Tracy are off to south east Africa, people in Samoa, Daniel and Michelle are about to go move to Mexico to be real estate tycoons, a whole group are in South Korea right now... well... they are being crazy and they are actually prayer walking the entire east-west section of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, some will even be venturing into North Korea for a few days and Erin (who spells her name Aryn) is living the life on a Disney Cruise Ship based out of Florida and spins around the Caribbean playing with kids! Talk about friendship jet-lag! We're everywhere!! I love it.

Hahahahahahahaa.... okay, okay, okay... this is too funny not to post. I just spelled checked the entry so far and the spell checker wants to turn Trisha's name to "Trashy." That's just not nice... but really funny. Sorry, Trisha.

As for the adventures of the 8th day of 24 years, I had a grand one! We're outfitting the mighty Mumby Mobile for another year of faithful service. This means getting some new tires. We didn't want to get the brand new ones because they start at over $80 a pop. There is this place in Edmonton called "Dollar Tire" that sells used tires. You can get pretty good tires for a lot less money there. And you can also get really entertained by the staff and the general workplace.

You have to give these guys credit, though. They did their job well and they were fairly polite.

Just when you go to this massive maze of tires everywhere and walk up to possibly the dirtiest man ever to have him help you, sometimes you begin to second guess yourself. Dad and I asked for a certain tire size and all this guy says is, "Follow me" and he blasts off down this hallway, the entryway to this hallway happens to be behind the counter which you think is supposed to keep the public out of the private employee only section.

So we have to run to catch up to this guy as he leads us through corridor after corridor of tires. I was lost instantly. He stops suddenly in front of a wall of tires and says, "Here they are." and promptly lights up a cigarette.

Since I am not well versed in tires we ask the man which four are good. He immediately pulls four off the self and once again says, "Follow me" and we're off running through the maze of tires a second time.

I could have sworn this was another portal into the Matrix.

We mysteriously come out in the waiting room area again and I still don't know how that worked. They put the tires on, while I was able to watch CNN at about 956 decibals. Lots of news in a continuous loop. I wonder how those newscaster people do it! I was going insane just listening to the same little news loop going over and over. It was listen to that or listen to the group of 12 year old's trying to be gang-bangers talking about how much they puked last night. It was rather graphic... want a sound bite?

"I was running outside and I felt it coming up so I just swallowed as hard as I could, but it didn't help........... I hate the feeling of vomit."

The endless CNN loop really was better.

Finally after about 45 minutes we were free to leave this strange, scary place.

I highly recommend Dollar Tire to anyone in Edmonton. Not only do you get nice cheap tires, but you get nearly endless adventure while purchasing them. Just 45 minutes there is about good enough for anyone. Unless you are tempted to enter into the Tire Rabbit Hole on your own....

Beautiful Norway

Just got a huge e-mail from my wonderful friend, Andy, who lives in Norway. He's coming over to our side of the world soon, which makes me very happy. Kind of wierd, though... turns out in the time that I was having that crazy dream that I would let end with him in it he was planning on e-mailing me, as we had not been in contact for a little while. But, like I said, I got a monster e-mail from him just now.

We'll have to pray for schedualling wonders as he is planning to come and visit me during the beginning part of September, and that is when I am also planning to be at a very cool opprotunity in Toronto. But I think I'm leaving on the 9th, so there should be some time to figure stuff out. Plus Andy will be in Montana for an SBS with YWAM, which isn't far away compared to Norway, so I hope to be able to see him while he's over here. I'm toying with the idea of working all year long and heading back to Norway with him for a while because I promised him that I would see him in his native land.

Funny story about Andy. He entered this competition for roller-bladders in Norway. Apparently this competition brings out the best of the country, only the top one and two didn't show up for this one. Andy skated the competition.... and won! Now he is invited to take part of a huge competition to compete against the best skaters in Denmark and Sweden!! Here's Andy's words because they made me laugh:

"Winning that competition I automatically qualified for the Nordic Real Street, which is going to be held in Oslo, our capital. There, the winners of the Real Streets in Denmark and Sweden will also be joining in... and basically all the best skaters in Scandinavia... hahahahaha.. and I'm supposed to be there... I don't even know if I dare to show up... those guys are like super-crazy good... basically pro's... hehe... so funny to think about."

But in Andy's competition he was landing tricks that he'd never even tried before. Maybe the same will happen in Oslo! I'll keep you posted. He has to see if he can get out of the army on that day because he's serving his one year manditory term right now and he'll be on duty the day the competition is.

Anyway, that was definately a highlight for my day 7 of year 24. That and I went and got my hair all chopped up again. Shorter this time, but still... hot hot hot! hahahaha...

Coffee Anyone?

Day six. Day six of being 24. Hopefully I don't get my counting mixed up and have to start all over again. That would suck.

First I must move back to day 5 and a half, since I updated on day five yesterday. While I was with Andrew (I won the 2nd series of our summer long Croquet Tournament - we are now tied) we saw some pretty good action. We went to 2nd Cup and I got my traditional London Fog. You people really must try it. It's like the cadillac of tea's. Yum. And 2nd Cup makes a really good one. We got our beverages and then went for a walk by the River Valley.

It was spectacular, to say the least. Edmonton actually looked beautiful from our vantage point. We also went to see the river, which was flooding. We walked around a while, with all the other spectators, walked across a bridge and then walked waaaaaay back up this path to overlook the river-valley again, where we started.

This is when two police cars came flying at us, driving across to field. I thought to myself, "Oh no, someone has called the police on us!" Which is a really strange thing to think because we were in a public park, looking at the river valley, along with a couple other people. Still... momentary panic was over me.

The police slammed on their brakes (lights flashing), jumped out of their cars and ran to the edge of the cliff, where we were standing and started watching the river with us.

Wow... they were eager.

But they soon brought out the binoculors and started saying to each other, "Is that him there?" This is also when the police and fire rescue boats came flying down the river and about a billion other police blanketed the bridge and shore lines looking for a guy who had taken a plunge into the flooded river.

And this guy literally did take a plunge. He didn't get sucked in. He didn't slip and fall. He made a concious choice to go swimming in the river.

First of all, nobody goes swimming in the North Saskatchewan River ever. That's just gross. I have never heard of recreational swimming in the middle of the city's river. And it's a pretty big river, for those of you reading this who have never been here. Second of all, what would possess a guy to decide that it would be safe to swim in a flooding river that is flowing a gazillion times faster then usual, full of massive trees and debris all over it?

Of course the moment he stepping into the river, he was swept away and I'm quite sure he was regretting his rather lack of forsight infused decision right at that point. He was swept past our river boat called the Edmonton Queen and some people chucked him a life vest. He was able to put that on and the second task was to fish the guy out of the river.

From waaaay up on our vantage point we were able to hear the guy screaming for help. It was pretty crazy. We couldn't see him at all, but the police boat was working the shore and tons of cops were running back and forth trying to find him in the bushes. The police up with us explained that the problem was he could get sucked under all the debris at the side of the river bank, where the river takes a turn.

It took a while, but they found the guy and he made it out all safe and sound.

Hopefully he will think twice about swimming in a river that has flooded to the point that the city declared a state of emergency in the low lieing areas!

So that was part of day 5.5....

Now onto day six. A good day all around. In the evening I was able to hang out with Jon which was awesome. Awesome for two reasons... I had an evening open and I love hanging out with one of my best good friends, Jon. We had a grand time. Coffee at Starbucks and lots of conversation and then walking up and down Whyte Ave for more converstation.

I also happened to run into.... Cathy Boyd. Most of you don't know her, but that doesn't matter because the people who do know her will like this. I met her very cute little daughter and her fiancee. They are to be married on October 1st. They looked really good, full of peace and were talking a lot about how God has done an amazing work in this last while. The fiancee looked very much like he was totally in the presence of God, which was neat. I could see it all over the guy and noticed him before I noticed Cathy walking up to me! They took my phone number and have said they will call because the story must be told about what God has done for Cathy and her new family. And she made sure the special greetings go out to Bobbie. She made very sure of that!

So most of you won't know how much of a surprise that was for me tonight, but it was a good surprise to be sure.

I'm going to go to bed now.

Goodnight!

Dreaming of a Dream

Let's see... day five of being 24. Days three through four were expectional, might I add.

I have to make this quick because I need to leave right away. I had this wild dream last night. Basically it was a dream that unfolded into my friends surprising me by showing up unexpectedly. These are my dearest friends from all over the world. They'd just show up and it was like one big elaborate surprise for me.

Sadly, this was one of those dreams that are so real that you honestly believe it is happening. I was so happy last night being with those that make my heart soar. Then the scene suddenly changed and I was in this RV with a bunch of people from Redding. It was really shocking to suddenly have the scene change like that. My friends Brian and Jenn Johnson were there and I had this sinking feeling come over me as I realized it wasn't real, but only a dream.

I turned to Brian and said, "This is a dream isn't it."

He simply nodded and looked a little sorry about it.

I sat down and looked at the ground for a little while and then looked up at everyone. I honestly wasn't ready to have this end. It just felt too good to have it end right then. I knew it was a dream and wasn't "real" but I just couldn't have it end. So I got up all my courage and said out loud, "I'm not ready for this dream to be over. I won't leave it yet." I knew perfectly well it was a dream, but I didn't want to leave. I couldn't bear to be teased like that again.

And the funny thing is the dream didn't end. I could feel it coming to a close and I'd just grit my teeth and say to the dream, "No. I don't want to leave. I won't let this dream be over yet." And I kept doing that and fought to remain in the dream.

Interesting, isn't it? I did finally wake up in the morning and I still had the same feeling of being so fulfilled and happy with finally spending quality time with the ones your heart longs to be with but can't. I don't really know what to think about it all, but it was a nice gift while it lasted.

I'm going to go to The Flood now and then leave a little early and hang out with Andrew. I've had to be creative for hang-out time with people so a little hacking and re-arranging has been in order. Day five of year 24 should turn out just fine.

Day Two Too

I had an interesting thought last night. What if I documented every day of being 24? That could be really interesting... or tedious... whichever you prefer.

Either way, today was day two into my 24th year of adventuring. As per usual, it turned out rather swell.

Many of you know the Mumby Mobile. Our little red truck. It has seen it's share of adventures as I have piloted that thing across the vast majority of the western part of the North American Continent. I seriously think I have put at least 75,000 kilometers on it in the last two years alone. When you consider that there is only one speaker that works and most of my long distance drive time I can only pick up CBC radio, you will understand just how big a feat that is. Liberal, government funded talk radio anyone? I do find it rather entertaining most of the time to say the least, even when they are trying to be serious.

Anyway, the Mumby Mobile just got back home from the doctor yesterday. It had been running not so smooth for the last few months and we finally brought it into the shop as I have to drive to Medicine Hat next weekend again. Normally I had been renting cars, but this is a trip that I have to fund, so time to fix the truck.

Turns out our catalitic converter (whatever that is) was totally plugged and no exhaust was coming out the tail pipe. They fixed that and now our little truck is a brand new machine! I have never felt it have so much power before. The engine is a surprising V6, so there is a ton of power for the little thing and now it just zips all over the place. I actually enjoy driving it again, rather then being constantly afraid that I would be stranded somewhere in Edmonton. CBC 740 might not seem so bad anymore!

This evening I called Jon up and we hung out for a very long time. Starbucks, home, then O'Mallies. We used to hang out every single night and then we moved all over the place. Jon did a stint in Redding by himself, I spent a summer out at Eagle's Nest and then Jon moved to Calgary as I did a great deal of travelling over the province. Now he's back in Edmonton and we're starting to re-connect again, which makes me very much more then happy. He has been one of my best good friends.

We had a good chat tonight and I was left feeling very impressed with my friend. God has done much in his life and it was cool to see it. Plus it's nice just to have a friend back. Something that I always feel like I have lacked in Edmonton are friends my age who I can just be me with. I don't have to worry about being a "leader" or a "good influence", but I can just be honestly me. That doesn't sound right... that sounds like I have to be fake with other people, so I hope you know what I am getting at. It just isn't right to pour out the inner secrets of your heart to anyone and everyone. It's good to have peers. Jon has always been that for me. A friend. A friend who listens and I feel really understands me and speaks my language. Thems good people.

So we hung out all night tonight.

I decided I would play bass for church on Sunday as well. It has been about a year and a half since I played my bass, so this should be interesting. Ian is leading worship and he has been doing amazingly these past couple of times, so I thought it would be good to get back up there and back him up for a service. Should be fun... last sunday he and Bobbie hit it right out of the park.

I would also like to point out that I am not doing the best job at this fasting thing that much of the people involved with Watchmen are doing right now. I had a chocolate bar and a lot of potato chips today, which I don't think fall into the category of a "Daniel Fast". But oh well - I think I'm over using the excuse of it being my birthday. Mom the other day said it perfectly, "All I want is a big bucket of KFC!"

I don't think I'm there yet.

So that's how day two went. I'm going to go read more of the Chronicles of Narnia now. Everyone needs to read those. It's amazing. I always find such an intense desire and longing for Father God rise up in me when I read those books. It's a good thing.

24 Hours of Birth

Last night I watched the second hand on my watch click over to 12:00am. The official first second of a brand new year in the life of Kayle. Interesting. I'm 24 now and the first day of 24ness feels pretty good.

I always tend to get somewhat introspective on my birthday. I don't think that's too bad of a thing. Mainly because if I look hard enough I'll find God in there somewhere and that starts a race of dreams running through my mind.

These journey's we call life sure can be a little exciting, can't they? And I'm just starting out. I like to think I've learned a thing or two over the last leg of my journey. It has been somewhat full to say the least.

****WARNING: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ KAYLE'S SAPPY INTROSPECTION THAT MAY MAKE ZERO SENSE ABORT READING BLOG NOW****

Okay, if you are still reading then that's your own fault. It's time to blab. And I want to watch the clock tick off the last second of my first 24 hours of being 24. That's in about 45 minutes, so this could be an astonishingly long entry. Plus I bought myself ColdPlay's new CD and it's aiding me into creative, dreamland.

So this journey of life. One thing I really like about people is they all have such incredible stories once you get deep down. They may think they are boring, but they are not. There is a vein of gold in there somewhere, you just have to find it. And once you do... look out... because you've just found the reason why they are alive. You've found the very essance of life in a person and usually it's rather potent. If you want to feel privilege, just hold onto that vein you eventually find in people and see where it takes you. If I have learned anything, that could likely be one of the best.

And it will come at the most random times. But you'll just know when you find it. I was in Kiev, Ukraine once helping minister to about 7000 very hungry people. Much of the congregation happened to be made up of the largest messianic Jewish congregation in the world. That was neat. But that's not the point to the story. Amidst those 7000 people I found one. This could quite possibly be one of my favorite hobbies. Finding the one.

This one was a guy and I don't remember his name. He spoke no english. I spoke no Ukrainian or Russian. I could say basic prayer phrases, but that doesn't help in making friends with someone.

We were at this location for about four days, three sessions a day and almost every session I would find this guy or vice versa. I can't explain anything other then there was a devine finding of the vein of life in each other. You could just stand there and feel such a heavy presence of God. He would point things out to me and I hoped I would understand what he was getting at. We prayed for each other on the last session and I can honestly say that was one of the most holy moments of my life. I think about it very, very often. I remember to pray for this guy when I think about him and I always wonder what his name was. I always wonder if I will meet him again on earth, and if not, it will be good to meet up again in heaven. So that's why I remember to pray. It will be neat to get to heaven and see exactly who carried you in their heart and lifted you up to heaven for years and years and you never even knew it. It will be cool to see the effect people have had on each other.

I can remember walking into my hotel room in Moscow and looking out the window at the bleak surroundings and standing there just thanking God over and over that I lived and grew up in Canada. What made it be that I was born in Canada? How different my life would have been if I had somehow popped out and had grown up in Moscow. There was just grey and black everywhere. It was horrible, yet strangely curious. It was raining. People were walking all over the place. I could see a huge factory a few blocks away. The government had turned off the central heat, so my hotel room was freezing. Nothing we could do about that! We were told that we were lucky that the government had not yet turned off the hot water like they do every year for about three months. They do it to service the lines since all the hot air and water are made in central factories. Our hotel floor grandma took good care of us though and piled a TON of blankets onto our bed when we stayed there. That was nice.

I can remember flying out of New York City this one time and I was so grumpy. Someone we were travelling with took my seat and made me sit with some strangers rather then with our team. I snapped at him and made a fool of myself to the person I was sitting by. I could have been because just hours before we were flying into JFK and we were in this holding pattern over the Statue of Liberty. I almost puked. But I did get to see the Concorde take off. That was cool.

I once drove all over Argentina in this little van that was packed full of people. We drove all through the night from Cordoba to a little town called Villa Maria. It was horrid. I was the only Canadian and everyone else thought it was so cold, so they cranked the heat up like you wouldn't believe. The place I was sitting was sandwiched between two other people and the heat vents were RIGHT on me. I thought I was going to die.

But when we left Cordoba we left on a high note! It was immediately after this crazy service with mass healings going on and people getting absolutely wrecked by the power of God. I remember I was waving my tie at people and they would go flying. The best part was when they realized they could do it too! We saw a young girl with severely deformed legs be able to walk on her own. She wasn't totally healed, but she could walk without crutches and everyone was weeping because that was such an improvement.

We were in the gym that was about 90,000 square feet. The place was MASSIVE! Windows were broken all along the roof and when we started to pray for people these huge bugs would fly in and land on people. That was kind of funny. They were probably about the size of your thumb and would just plop down on people. But nobody cared. We just wanted God.

That was Cordoba. And that was only one story. We went to Villa Maria, Rosario and Buenos Airies too. We got stranded in Sao Paulo which is a story in itself. Funny... going in we got stranded in Sao Paulo and when we were leaving to fly back home we almost died flying into Sao Paulo. We flew through the hugest thunderhead I have ever been in and actually got put into a holding pattern that flew us through it. Now that was what I would call turbulance! Interestingly enough I was sitting beside Bill Johnson who about a year and a half later would become my pastor. I had basically no idea who this guy was then. That's funny...

I remember moving to Redding and getting some of the best advice of my life from a good friend of mine, Krista. She took me aside, looked me right in the eyes and said, "Kayle, live every day here to the fullest. Don't hold back. You are going to have to leave here eventually, but live as if you will never, ever leave this place ever. Go as deep as you can. Go as deep as you can with God. Go as deep as you can with friends. Don't hold back at all. Go as deep as you can and live like you'll never leave these people."

That's good advice. I discovered that when you know you're going to leave you kind of hold back. Why make deep friendship's with people you know you'll leave? It makes sense to the head, but not to the heart. That's why Krista's words were the best advice I have heard. California is where all my dreams came true.

I met my Love. I met my God there. I had seen Him in different ways all over the world and in so many different people. But not like this. I never knew a God like this existed. My breath was taken away on a daily basis. I spent hours and hours every morning in the Prayer Chapel and then go say hi to my wonderful friends in the church office. The afternoon was dedicated to school of ministry which was beyond life changing. I met God there. I really met Him.

He's beautiful, you know.

I met Him watching the sunrise one sunday morning before church, sitting outside the Prayer Chapel. I met Him one evening when I picked up a flag and danced like nobody was watching. I met Him whenever I played bass for a service. Especially on Sunday mornings... what a vantage point I had! To see that many people lost in worship and to have the priviledge of laying down the groove for thousands of people to meet with their God. Some of you reading this were there. You were beautiful to watch all the time.

I remember this one time I played with Don Potter. Mike Haggerty was playing drums and we went to this place in worship that I never thought existed (that happened a lot in Redding). We went backstage with Don and tried to say something... I don't even know what... and all I could do was weep uncontrollably. And I mean weep! Don asked me a couple of times if I was going to be okay!! haha... that was funny... All I could keep saying was, "I never knew that existed... Nothing will ever be the same again..." And Don just laughed his Santa Claus laugh and kept saying, "You'll be okay, son... you'll be fine."

Mike's dream came true. He played for Don a lot and now is Jason Upton's drummer. He never wanted to leave that place of worship and now he's on the cutting edge of it all. Go Mike Go!

It's nice to meet God in ways that you just don't know what to do with yourself. Literally. All I could do was stand there and bawl my face off in front of one of my long-time heros.

I remember hardly being able to breath when I realized that my time of departure from Redding was coming and it was coming way too fast. I cried a lot. It scared me because I couldn't avoid it. It was like this huge wall coming at you at 100 miles an hour and you couldn't do anything about it. This is when Krista's advice came in handy. "Live like you'll never, ever leave this place, Kayle."

I spent many moments that are too private and too Holy to talk about on this blog in those last days in Redding. Nothing compares. I met my God in Redding. I met my God in more ways then one. I met my God through the Jesus that each person represented to the world.

It will be interesting when this journey called life is all said and done. I don't always understand why I had to leave. I don't always understand why I am where I am at right now. But I do understand that I am on a journey and I must keep moving forward. It might not feel good sometimes. It may feel like your heart will never be whole again, but the only way out is in. You just got to keep going. I may not always know which way to go, but as long as it's towards my God I think it'll all end up right.

I think I'm done writing. Here's the words to a great song that I am listening to. I always look for songs that play how I feel. I think this is it. "Swallowed in the Sea" by Coldplay. You really need to buy their newest CD. It's amazing...

You cut me down a tree
And brought it back to me
And that's what made me see
Where I was going wrong

You put me on a shelf
And kept me for yourself
I can only blame myself
You can only blame me

And I could write a song
A hundred miles long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me

And I could write it down
And spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
Or swallowed in the sea

You put me on a line
And hung me out to dry
And darling that's when I
Decide to go to sea

You cut me down to size
And opened up my eyes
Made me realize
What I could not see

Well I could write a book
The one you'll say that shook
The world and then it took
It took it back from me

And I could write it down
And spread it all around
Get lost and then get found
And you'll come back to me
Not Swallowed in the sea

I could write a song
A Hundred miles long
Well thats where I belong
And you belong with me

The streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long
Well that's where I belong
And you belong with me

What good is it to live
With nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive
Not loving all you see

Are the streets you're walking on
A thousand houses long?
That's where I belong
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea
You belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

It's My Birthday!

It's that time of year again. The time when the angels sing really loud and lollypops fall from the sky. Yes, it's my birthday.

I'm probably going to update something in a few hours, but right now I feel like writing anyway. I was thinking just a little while ago about presents that we get on birthdays and I thought of some of the best ones I have gotten.

There is this vision I had when I left my California home of Redding. A man walked into my house and opened up this huge bag of diamonds. Like MASSIVE diamonds. He spread them out all over the coffee table and said to me, "These are yours. Take them, bond with them, hold onto them until you truly believe that they are yours."

So I did that. I started to take some of the diamonds (they were the size of grapefruits) and I started to play around with them, hold them, look at them, treasure them. I didn't put them down until I really, truly believed they were mine.

Then the man came back.

He said, "Now, you must go and give them away for only then will these diamonds be truly yours."

I woak up at that moment with a profound revelation. The diamonds represented a lot of things, but mainly my friends. I can honestly say that you will be hard pressed to find someone more wealthy then me, simply because of the fact that I have the most incredible friends in the world. I don't understand this crazy privilege, but I sure am honored to have these people in my life. They are diamonds of the richest fare.

In my travels I have come across people that words do not describe. They have become part of my life, part of my family. And then the moment comes when I have to give them away. I didn't understand it at the time, but now I know a little better. I gave these people away, invested them to the world, to the nations, gave them back to the Lord... and now they're mine forever.

They are a part of my heart and my life.

Sometimes they come back and I get to be with them often, sometimes it takes a while. But they are always there. I have wonderful friends spread out all over the world now. Many all over the USA, Norway, China, Australia, Canada... it's incredible. Those are little bits of my heart all over the world and it takes my breath away. And I have little bits of their heart right inside of me that I get to treasure, hold onto, love and take care of.

Now, really... what greater gift is there then that?

Sure that sounds cheesy, but just take a second and hear that again for the first time... when you stop and think about it, it's actually quite profound.

Happy Birthday to me! Well... not quite yet... in just over an hour. I'm going to go be with Jesus now and usher in a year in style. I may write more tonight... I may hold off till tomorrow and tell you neat little bits about my diamonds.

Hop on the Boat!

The time has come, one and all... Peter has updated his blog. I promised to shamelessly plug his blog when he updated, so you have to go check it out. Plus he has some juicy news that will send you all into hysterics.

So go check out Peter's Blog.

That, and I had to get the last update off the screen.... yeesh...

Downright Wierd

Just when I thought my life was becoming normal like everyone else's today swept in and blew that all away. It has solidified the truth - if you spend enough time with me something shockingly strange will happen that will leave you scratching your head saying, "Did that really just happen?"

I have gotten somewhat used to this because it happens on a fairly regular basis for me and I don't really notice until the people I am with are able to breath again after the shock has worn off. Or it takes a while for the hysterical laughter to subside.

It rained today and that is always a good sign. Because if it rains that means I will be getting a call from Peter and we will be hanging out. This makes me very happy because I love Peter and I don't get to see him as much as I should. But because I get to spend a lot of time with Peter anyway, he is privy to witness much of the insanity that I get to call my life. Today he was sucked in and didn't just witness the event, but was a key participant! Oh how lucky! I really should be selling tickets to my life.

We went to Starbucks and had a wonderful conversation, got caught up on each other's life and then decided to hop over to a certain optical store so he could look at new frames. We walked into the little shop and started to look around. Turns out this is a highly specialized store that sells frames in the neighborhood of $800. CRAPOLA that's expensive!

But the shock didn't come from the prices. The shock came from the salesman who was a little too friendly and jumped to a few too many conclusions. The main conclusion being that he OBVIOUSLY thought Peter and I were more then just good friends. It was horrifyingly funny and I had to try as hard as I possibly could not to burst out in complete laughter in this guys face. He was waaaaaaay too touchy-feely and was talking about both of us picking out a frame that would look good on Peter and that we could agree with... and JUST FREAKING TREATING US AS A COUPLE!!!!

Amidst fighting off the dry-heaves/laughter and in my panic I tried to play it all cool and pop in random snappy comments to this guy... I don't know what I was thinking... it just made it worse. He started touching Peter more and selling me on the glasses that Peter was shoping for. You'd think that one would clue in when making eye contact with me and they were both unblinking and taking on the "deer caught in the headlights" look, after I ran out of snappy, back-firing comments.

Turns out these people sit you down and take a profile of who you are before they recommend the perfect set of frames. As the guy was talking to US about PETER'S glasses he told us that it takes at least 15 minutes and will ask us about our "lifestyle" to perfectly match a pair to Peter.

At this point I was panicing and trying to figure a way out of the place. Peter stepped in with the perfect excuse of "We don't have that much time, but we'll come back." To which the guy asked our names, gave a handshake and passed both Peter and I (two people) one, single card. He then touched us too much again as he directed us out the door.

Upon leaving the store and walking through the parkinglot Peter and I said nothing. I think we were both thinking to ourselves, "Did that actually just happen?" at the same time as we were thinking, "Did Kayle/Peter get the same freaking obvious vibe as I did?" and we were both too shocked to say anything to each other. As we got inPeter's car we just looked at each other and burst out into hysterical laughter because quite literally no words needed to be said.

And now I really don't know how to end this entry. Much like how I didn't know what to do with our little experience this afternoon. Myself and people I've been with have been mistaken for having children together, being married, being boyfriend/girlfriend, most recently being engaged, even being divorced if you can believe it. I guess we'll just chalk this up to the list and see what happens next.

Back to Normal Life

Geordie and Stef left this morning amidst a whirlwind of action! My goodness that was a little too much for me. Stef made enough food to feed a small army, which is good because they are taking part in the national call to fast and have chosen to do the "Daniel Fast" which is just veggies. Since those feul you for oh so very long and so so filling a massive amount of food was needed. Our house smelled very good and might I add that Stef's ministronie soup is probably the best thing out there.

Aaron and mom lucked out on this call to fast, though. It started at sundown on the 12th, so they were able to have a big birthday bash. My birthday falls smack in the middle of it all... so I'll probably just "accidentally" forget about the fast then.

All this talk of fasting... eeekkk... starting to sound religious. Yuck.

If you want to check out what this is actually about, because it's really cool, go to the Watchmen Website and read all about it.

Last night was fun. The birthday bash went well and the Tanasiuk Children got so high on sugar I thought they may pass out. We had an entire bag of marshmallows and they evaporated in a matter of moments as the kids sucked them back with alarming speed. But since they were out in the open, it was lots of fun because their heads just started to spin and off they ran for a good three to four hours. They were also greatly aided by copious amounts of pop and the ever wonderful barbequed hotdog... and large pieces of cake.

We said a little prayer for the sanity of Con and Sue, but I'm sure that the sugar coma kicked in somewhere around two blocks from our cabin, when we left.

And it will all happen again this weekend, as it will be my birthday bash as all who are reading this are invited. It's at my house at 7:30pm on Saturday.

I reigned supreme in the battle of the horse-shoes. I'm not sure how many American's know of this game. Hopefully you all do, but one thing I do know is that horse-shoes runs rampant in most parts Red Neck up here in Canada. So chances are it originated in the USA, but you never know.

Harry and I were on a team and we were amazing. So amazing that we halved the total points needed to win a game and it still took us twice as long. But we were undefeated for two full games, promptly named ourselves Elijah and Elisha and declared our retirement after an astonishing undefeated carrer.

I'm so proud.

But that was all eclipsed by Geordie's "atomic" horseshoe throw. I'll leave that one for you to imagine... and yes, before he threw it, he leaned over and said, "Here's the atomic horseshoe!" and yelled "RINGER!!!" at the top of his lungs. If by "ringer" he meant "decorative water well", then everything turned out just fine.

Uggggg.....

So...

I haven't posted in a while. And I won't for the next three days because we will be out at the Lake for the first wave of birthday's Mumby. Life has been exciting and I know I say this all the time but I really feel like the next phase is beginning. I have been seeing the turn for a while and am going for more clarity on how to take it. Clarity is coming, which is good.

Today I hung out with Aaron for a while, which was good too because I had not seen him for a while with Geordie and Stef in town plus all the crazyness with his new business. And as usual our adventure through Edmonton was not a boring or normal one! We basically drove through Edmonton via the most annoying roadways as we went first to the wrong place and finally the the proper one. Edmonton is one city where you DO NOT want to mix up the avenue's and the streets in the address because you will be forced to drive through one of the stupidest set up cities in the world. Add to that Edmonton drivers insurance is the highest in Canada and that should tell you the level of intelligence that most people drive with.

I would get into it all and tell you about it, but I have been burning Mr. Candle from both ends and need to be in bed.

Aaron and Mom's birthday's are this saturday. It should be grand, as always. Any time you get an extended visit at the lake is a good time.

So much blessing and love to you all.

Peace out!

My Hair Is Really Long

Well... not really... but longer then usual. I like it.

Yesterday was a marvellous day. I didn't really do much all day long. Went to Starbucks... TWICE!! That alone can make any day a good day. First one was just to get my afternoon coffee. One thing I really like doing is listening to sermons and drinking a coffee. Mainly listening to Bethel teachings while drinking my coffee. You can download one a week at Bethel's website. There is a TON of awesome stuff on there, so you should check it out.

Sadly I was not able to listen to the message, because I got held up at Wal-Mart. What's wrong with that place? Well... everything, but we won't go into the list. There was a very sad situation out front of the Hell-Mart today. Mainly a large family all getting pulled out of their Suburban Truck and put into the back of the police cars. I guess the family had a big steal-a-thon and got caught. It made me feel very sad for them. What must have driven them to have to steal that much stuff? If it's a whole family it can't just be stupid child hijinks to get a high... sad.

So it took me a loooooong time to get the pictures that my mom dropped off. But I got them.

Then in the evening I went off to The Flood which was nice. I really wanted to hang out with some people after, namely Tyler, Kristy-anne and her brother Nate, but I had to leave early. Alas. It has been a while since I have seen all them, but that will happen a while later I guess. My birthday extravaganza is fast approaching so all reading this within travelling distance must come out to the fling which will likely be not this saturday, but the next. I think it's the 18th. As always, this one will be great fun.

Hmmmm.... what else can I talk about? I was on Whyte last night and there was a shocking amount of beggars on the street. It was so sad. I have noticed one thing though... well... I didn't notice it, I just paid attention to what they say. In Edmonton you can buy this newspaper from street people who cannot hold a job. Most of them are mentally ill or have some sort of circumstance that they literally cannot have a job. Government assistance isn't that great (it literally keeps you below the poverty level by quite a bit) for these people and imagine the shame that they have in never being able to earn something for themselves? So people got together and publish this newspaper called "Our Voice". It is written by street people and quite frankly is one of the best newspapers out there. The vendors buy a copy for 50 cents and sell them on street corners for whatever the passer-by will pay. It's a good way to help them suppliment their income or just be able to feel like they are earning something through their own effort to give them some dignity at least.

All that to say that I always buy those papers, even if I have five of them, and if I remember to bring change with me... which I have been forgetting lately. One time I was reading the paper and there was this little article written by a guy who was a beggar. He was saying how he already felt shame enough in begging, because really... who is going to hire a guy like that... and all he asked for was to be treated as a human. He said it was hard to feel human when nobody at all recognizes your presence or ignores your voice. He said how nice it was when people actually took the 1.3 seconds it takes to say, "No I don't have any change for you." He said that was almost as good, if not better, then getting money because he got dignity.

So now whenever people ask me for change I remember that they actually are human and I tell them the truth, that I don't have change. And I always honestly apologize for that... I just forget to bring some out with me and I feel bad about it. I feel bad that we have to go to 3rd world countries to minister to the poor when we have tons of them right in our own city. I feel had that we have to go to 3rd world countries to minister to the child prostitutes and sex slaves when we have them in our own city. And yes, Edmonton really does have them. I often wonder if we just transplanted a destitute person from Sudan to the streets of Edmonton what would happen? But if we transplated a Edmontonian to Sudan what would happen. Why is it when the heart of a Edmontonian get's hardened passing a destitute person in Edmonton, but melts when passing one in Sudan?

Yes, there are about a billion differences such as social programs, assistance and all that stuff. I do realize that. But if you do a word study on "poor" in the Bible you will realize that we actually do have a significant responsability. And we have to remember that these people are in bondage. How much more injustice is that? They have the opprotunity to live well and simply cannot make that choice or that decision. They are in total darkness and don't have to be. Now that is injustice.

And in saying all that I firmly believe that everyone needs to spend time in 3rd world countries. I have and I need to go back. So should all of you.

Those are just things I think about. Something else I think about is how the poorest person in Edmonton is a freaking millionare comparitively to the poorest person in Mozambique. That puts a twist on things. Steve Fix from our church pointed out something interesting in that we have worthless money. Pennies. We throw them away, give them away, don't really care about them. But it's money. Imagine someone from Mozambique thinking that way.

I don't know if I am making any sense. Just kind of rambling on and on. Thinking through my fingers....

My goodness me

Insanity would be the proper term for these last few days.

Ever so slightly busy, you know. Let's do a little run-down on the events that I can at least remember:

- Thursday night, crazy Canada prayer that was beyond powerful, filled with a massive sense of the fear of the Lord. Canada, you get ready for what is happening. Our group may be small, but it is one of hundreds and hundreds all across this nation unifying thousands and thousands in prayer for Canada to be the habitation of the Glory of the Lord.

- Friday night we had an awesome BBQ for the Prayer Crawl people who help lead the thing. It went very well and I didn't get home until past midnight.

- Saturday morning, up bright and early to go to Jessica and Jeff's posh wedding. It was great fun! Their wedding cars were three Hummers! So cool. And we all got to sport our nice new clothes which I still laugh about because the only reason we bought them was out of necessity. I think that may be a sign of getting too laid back.

- We went to the Hotel MacDonald for the reception, which was breathtaking. Learned that when the Queen stayed there just weeks before she had instructions to put a new toilet seat on her bathroom. I spilled just about everything one could possibly spill at the table. Tyler thought the butter was cheese. The coffee was amazing. Hienz (the man Geordie works for and Grandfather to his wife) was a little lost in trying to find the Hotel Mac and drove up to the front of the hotel and asked those guys who park your car for you, "Where is the Hotel MacDonald?"

That would have been hilarious. He is a highly German man with a thick accent. He probably was a little frustrated, so most likely blarred that out at the car parking guy, who I know has a much more impressive name then car parking guy, but I can't remember it. Still... funny mental picture.

- I went immediately to Whyte Ave to be there before the group arrived. Sadly, I had to run into Starbucks and change out of my suit and into proper clothes for Whyte Ave. I then ran to Gazeebo Park and this man asked me for drugs (as always happens to me in Gazeebo Park). We ended up talking for a good half hour about his spiritual journey and I found it to be very interesting. He was from Chicago, but moved up to Canada to get away from the America. I didn't know people like that were for real, but I guess they are!

- We crawled Whyte Ave, which was great fun.

- Drove Andrew home and then went right to the Anton's for their family get together. It was hilariously funny!!

- I FINALLY got to go back home and then collapsed in bed.

- Sunday was church and then off to the lake. I drove with Aaron and scared myself because I fell asleep in his car and didn't realize it. Now that is a strange experience. I woak up when we pulled into the lake road and freaked out because I had no idea what was going on or why I was coming out of this strange drug induced coma.

- And now I am typing out random bits from my weekend. I had fun. The end.

What A Day

Wow...

Today was a doozy to say the least. I have been having a great deal of trouble sleeping this week and last night was definately one of them. I think I got around 2 hours of sleep. And my day today was a loooooong one with two very major meetings that I needed to have my head on my shoulders and be very functioning for.

So it goes like this:

- Finally get my butt out of bed around 8:00am, totally frustrated that I had slept for such a short amount of time and my system simply refused to turn off

- Stare blankly out the front window for too long

- Pile into the Mumby Mobile and go belt shopping. My new pants definately need a new belt. But I discovered people don't seem to make belt sizes in my size... I think I found literally the only size 30 belt in all of West Edmonton Mall and believe me I searched long and hard. The moment I found a size 30 belt I didn't even care to look anymore I just bought it. It cost just as much as my pants. But it's a nice one. And it only took my 45 minutes to find it. 45 minutes of belt shopping is much too long for anyone.

- I drove from West Edmonton Mall straight to Sherwood Park for prayer at the health store. It was good. Hard, but good, as two of our people are really suffering right now and I hate that. But I got to see Erin and Sophia at the end so that was nice. It's always good to talk with them. Well... Erin more because she actually responds to me.

- Then I drove home for a brief stopover (completing a literal full circle of driving around my city) and hopped back in the truck to drive to the very south side of Edmonton for another meeting that had potential to be high stress. It turned out very well with results that even I was not expecting, but results that were very good nonetheless. This lasted until 11:30pm... it started at 6:30.

- I then drove Jill home because we were not going to allow her to ride her bike home, which would have taken over an hour and a half. Thus giving me another half circle around the city and a cut straight up the middle of it. I most likely put over 200kms of city driving on the old Mumby Mobile today. It was horrific.

Now I'm going to read some of the Chronicles of Narnia (which I love and everyone should read them once a year) and then go to sleep. The people at the health store prayed one seriously powerful prayer over my sleeping patterns and I know it took!

Oh yeah... tomorrow... early morning I get to drive all the way back to the very south side of Edmonton for a wedding, do that until 3:00pm, drive home, quickly turn around and we got the next prayer crawl at 4:30-7:00 at Whyte Ave!! Acccckkkkkk....... Could be about a 150km day tomorrow.

I've been told

While Trisha was here both her and I gave a verbal thrashing to Kristy-anne for lack up updating. Last night I recieved the same rebuke from Kristy-anne herself. Gulp...

So here's my update.

This weekend there is a wedding and a prayer crawl. On the same day. Could be somewhat tired after this! The wedding is going to be cool, though. It's a morning wedding and then the reception is at the nicest hotel in Edmonton (and ranked one of the best in the country) so I'm looking forward to being in there! But in order to fit in at this hotel (The Queen recently stayed there) one has to look the part.

I was kind of not looking forward to purchasing some dress pants, as I realized I do not own one pair, but I went out anyway to search far and wide. Before I left, I prayed intensly that God would bring me great deals and incredible savings. He heard my prayer! I found a sweet pair of pantaloons and when I went to pay for them the girl who was helping me scanned the thing and went, "Oh! It's your lucky day!" and the pants rang up for a very surprising $39!!!! SWEET!!

So now I need to go buy an appropriate belt. I put on my whole ensemble today and might I say that I am hot hot hot. In a humble sort of way. hahaha...

I was going to write something else on here, but I can't remember. It may appear tomorrow.