We all belong to each other

We became member of Mountain Baptist Church in Canmore last week. We first attended this church when we moved to Canada almost 8 years ago. We have been attending on a regular basis for the past 2 years. Our pastor, Trevor Sato, has made an irreversible imprint on our lives. I am so thankful for God's leading in bringing our family to this family. I look back on the last two years, the good and the bad, and by God's grace, we have grown so much. This humble man has directed us upward on more than one occasion. He has taught me true application of God's Word, he has taught me how to listen, how to be still, how to worship, and how to really see God.
We have learned and experienced grace. God's judgment is truly an awesome and powerful thing to understand and to fear. However, God's grace and mercy brings one to his knees.
I attended a Christian school when I was young, a few years of public school, and then on to Christian university. This was all a part of God's plan for my story and I am grateful. However, both of my Christian education facilities had a lot of rules, and I mean, a lot of rules. These are important, I am not degrading that, but I experienced a lot of frustration trying to live the "good Christian life". I never felt like I was good enough.
Trevor stripped all of those rules away, and looked at my heart. Blue and I received marriage counseling from Trevor last year. He showed me my heart, my needy heart, that wasn't needy at all, but was full. My heart was already full of Christ, His joy, His peace, and His love. I was not and would not ever be in need of anything else.
The mission statement of Mountain Baptist is this: To Become and make disciples of Jesus through authentic relationships.
Authentic relationships with our co-workers, with our neighbors, and with our fellow Christians, that will bring glory to our God.
"Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other."

Life lessons to be learned...by a three year old

Blue tells me that my blog is too serious, that I need to write something funny. Well, I guess I am a serious person, but I would like to be a funny person too. So, I tried to think of something funny to write about...
The last few weeks have been a series of attempts to potty-train my two-year old son, Forest. We have experienced victories and failures, and I am sure you all can see where this story is going.
One day, I was trying the "let him run around with nothing on" plan. I was in the office trying to get some work done. Meadow and Forest were at the kitchen table, playing with playdough. I hear Forest start to cry. Now, when you have been a mom long enough, you can distinguish your children's cries. So, I was sure this was not a cry of pain, but maybe of frustration. I decided to keep working and wait it out. The crying became more intense, and when I called to Meadow, there was no answer. Reluctantly, I ran to the kitchen to see what the problem was. There was a distinct smell as I walked into the room, and I looked over to see Meadow rubbing her hands together. There were brown smears on the wall beside her.
"Meadow, what happened?"
"Mom, Forest pooed, and I thought it was brown playdough, so I tried to form a ball. It isn't playdough, mom, it has nuts in it! I tried to wipe my hands off on the walls!"
Forest may still not be potty-trained, but it was still a very successful day. My daughter had learned an important life lesson: how to tell the difference between poo and brown playdough - look to see if there are nuts!!

If only we all knew

The man approaching the ice cream bus was, well, weathered. I would never venture to guess his age because I somehow knew that I would be wrong. I instinctively felt that he was much younger than he looked. He was unbelieveably skinny. He wore a faded denim shirt, only one button holding it together. As he stepped up onto the deck, the wind caught the shirt and that last button released its hold, revealing a rib cage without an ounce of fat. His wispy white hair was covered by a straw, cowboy hat. When he smiled at me, I nearly stepped back, there were only a few teeth remaining.
"Today is a special day and I am treating myself to some ice cream," he grinned.
I just stared at him for a moment. He sounded as if he may be a bit intoxicated, but his blue eyes were as clear as the sky above.
"Ice cream is always a great treat," I replied. "Why is today special?"
He gave me his order, and as I began to scoop, he tells me that today is his birthday.
"Well, Happy Birthday!" I exclaimed.
"It is my last one" he stated.
That sentence got my attention. I turned to look at him.
"What makes you say that?" I asked
I felt frozen as he proceeded to tell me that he has liver cancer, and has been given only a few months to live. I placed an extra scoop on his cone, and looked him right in that clear, blue eye.
"Do you know where you are going when you die?"
"I have a one-way ticket straight to hell" he laughed.
"Jesus loves you, and you actually have an advantage because you know when you are going to die. Many people do not know. You have time to accept God's great gift and spend eternity with him."
I spent the next few minutes explaining how he could know that he was going to go to heaven.
He smiled and thanked me. As he walked away, I thought to myself how different this world could be if only we all knew. Life is a precious gift that humans often take for granted.
"...For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

My awesome dad - Part 2

Yesterday was Father's Day. Of course, I would like to say that I wrote this yesterday, or even before, however, one can't lie with modern computers these days. So, yes, I am writing a day late, one can never be late when publicly commending the awesomeness (is that a word?) of one's father. So, here goes....
One of the most difficult, yet joyous experiences of my life thus far has been the birth of my oldest son, Ocean. I have never been so afraid. Two amazing men were by my side when Ocean entered this world. One was my own father, who has given me more than my deserved share of mercy and unconditional love. The other was my husband, who although he became a father for the first time that night, stepped into the role as if he had been a father all of his life.
Ocean was in the hospital for six days. My dad was, well, my dad. He has never been an extremely emotional man, so I can't say that he cried with me, or held me. Not knowing was the hardest part, and still is with Ocean. My dad, in his own way, held me up. His presence alone, kept me from falling apart. I know that he hurt with me, that he prayed with me. And, he never had to say a word, I just knew.
Last year, we had Ocean tested for autism. I was a little nervous about meeting the developmental pediatrician. Over the course of Ocean's six years, he has grown increasingly fearful of doctors. I walked into the office, holding Ocean's hand, whispering calming words. Ocean immediately walked over to the doctor, put his hand on the doctor's knee, and smiled up into his face. The doctor picked him up, and Ocean began to stroke his beard. I was shocked. I opened my mouth, and I realized...Dr. Prince looked just like my dad! And, Ocean loves my dad.
I am so blessed. I have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father, who loves me unconditionally, overflows with grace and mercy, and whose faithfulness floods my life daily. This awesome Father gave me an awesome earthly father, and an awesome earthly father for my son. Thank You!

Blue Sky Falconer

A few days ago, my husband and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. Absolutely amazing! I want to quote a very cliche phrase, "where does the time go?"

I met Blue Sky Falconer 13 years ago at Red Cliff Bible Camp. He was late for counselor training, our director informed us that we still had one more male counselor coming. During one of our sessions, we heard a very strange noise. We all walked to porch, and were greeted by a very strange sight. A very small, rusty, may I say clunky red Toyota, was chugging its final stretch up the mountain. When it finally reached its destination, it seemed to breathe and sigh of relief and shut off. The door creaked open, and a guy stepped out. He had recently grown out a beard, and looked very tired. He had driven from Canada. All I knew of Canada was that they had a beautiful national anthem and that Victoria was a fantastic tourist destination. Now I knew that they also produced very handsome men.

Two weeks later, I wrote in my journal that I had met the man I was going to marry. Not only was he very, very cute, he loved God, he was a hard worker, we served well together, he loved the outdoors, he was kind, the campers loved him, and he was extremely funny. We married two years later.

The last eleven years have seen dreams fulfilled, promises kept, three beautiful children born, life lived in some breathtaking places, but never, never a dull moment. There are times I am not as openly thankful for those moments, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Recently, he has been working on a trail here in Exshaw. I first walked his trail a few years ago. I had some serious doubt, and was overwhelmed by the amount of work required to make this little path a usable trail. Last week, his picture was published in the local newspaper, riding the Prospector. I have had three calls in the last two days from people inquiring about this trail. That is my Blue... and I love him more now than ever. I am so excited to see what the next eleven years hold for us...

Happy Birthday dad!

Today is my dad's 67th birthday.
I know that I am only one of many who believes my dad to be a very special person. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have heard someone say, "You're dad is the nicest man." Yeah, I definitely agree.
The other phrase I have heard countless times is, "It must be nice to have a dad who can't yell at you." I usually just stare at them on that one, because, as I remember it growing up, my dad had absolutely no trouble getting his point across when he wanted to.
Before I was born, before my parents were married, my dad was in a very serious accident. As a result of his injuries, he lost his voice, or at least the volume of his voice. Since then, he has only ever been able to whisper. Often times, we never know why God allows certain things to happen, and why we humans love to sit around and analyze is beyond me. I do know that being around my dad has always been like a soothing balm for me. Sometimes, he talks to me, often, he just listens. If you want to have a conversation with dad, you have to listen. My mom taught me to love to talk, my dad taught me to listen.
I have three kids of my own now. Believe me, there are moments in every day where I feel like I have to raise my voice to be heard. My dad taught me that is not true.
My dad was always patient with me. He would hold my hand and encourage me on. When I didn't want to hike anymore, when I failed a test, when I was teased at school, when I broke up with my first boyfriend, when I didn't make the basketball team, when I graduated from high school, when I flew away to college, when I met Blue, when I walked down the aisle, and when Ocean was born...dad was always there, always encouraging me to do my best, to be content, and to never quit.
I love you so much, dad. I miss you. I am so blessed to have you as my dad. Happy Birthday!

Too high a price...

It has been a big week for the Falconers. I believe that thought comes to mind at the end of every week, but I have to remind myself that God is so good.
We opened our Old School Bus Ice Cream this week. God blessed us with continuous days of sunshine. I looked out the bus window at one point, and saw the endless line of customers, and thought about Christ instructing Peter to cast his net after fishing all night, and the net nearly breaking from all of the fish. God is so good.
God is sovereign and is at work all around us, although we often fail to see or acknowledge His presence. The night before the bus opened, we experienced His presence in a way that had me flat down on my face praising Him. We had been working for a few days in preparation. Against our better judgment, we often had the kids with us. On Friday evening, we had just finished a meeting with our staff, Meadow and Forest were both sitting on the deck. I walked inside the bus for just a moment, and I heard Blue yelling my name....I glanced out the window to see my little baby Forest, walking across Main St.!!!I have heard people say that time freezes when a disaster is imminent. My scream was lodged in my throat as I watched Taylor, a staff member who had just left the bus, stop his car and jump out. There were not any cars coming the other direction and Forest crossed safely to be scooped up by a lady on the other side, who immediately ran him back across and into my shaking arms. Praise God, Praise God Praise God... was all I could say.
I didn't sleep that night. I paced the house, and told God over and over how sorry I was for being so negligent. I told Him that I never could have forgiven myself. I imagined the loss of Forest over and over in my mind, and how I don't think that I could have survived. I would never be able to face Blue, or our family, or Meadow and Ocean, and explain to them that it was my fault that their son, their grandchild, their brother, their cousin, their nephew was gone. I thanked Him for protecting my son, crying out that it would have been too high of a price... God held me in His everlasting arms, in the shelter of His wing for hours that night, secure in His love. He gently reminded me of the loss of His only Son, the price to be paid for the redemption of mankind. Thank you, Father.
The second BIG thing that occurred involved our condo situation. Two years ago, we borrowed money from a private loaner to purchase and reno a condo. It was a short term loan and was designed to be payed back within a year, then the condo burned down. We had to renegotiate with them, because we really had no choice. Well, here we are two years later. I have learned two invaluable lessons that honestly have been worth the pressure and financial stress of the last two years. One, God is my security, He is ALL I need. Second, I love my husband unconditionally. Life is hard. Life is a journey. Ultimately, whatever happens in our lives, whatever poor decisions we make, I want God to be glorified.
This week, Blue's parents, graciously and sacrificially, refinanced their house to pay off our loan! It is much easier to give than I receive, I am sure. This is very humbling. They are showing Jesus to us, the price is too high for us to pay. We are forever grateful.
I read a few verses in II Corinthians this morning, "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers."