Blessed!

I am so blessed! I am sitting at the cafe at YVR airport waiting for a flight to the Philippines.I am so grateful to God for the beautiful woman I am going to marry, and the beautiful children He has blessed us with. As long as I can remember, the dream I have longed for the most is to have a family, a wife and children. And now I am blessed with both... What can I say except "Thank you God! Your Grace, favor, love and blessing are beyond my understanding. There are no words I can assemble that even come near to explaining how I feel. Thank you God!"

Wow... this is SO out of date... haha This past year has been fantastic. I am now engaged to a beautiful woman named Crisel Arganda. She and our daughters Micha and Joy are in the Philippines right now, and we are praying hard for her and Micha and Joy to be approved for their visas to come to Canada... I am praising God for His blessings he has given us, answering a prayer which has been in my heart as long as I can remember, for a family. Our father God is SO good! Thank you Lord!!!

Friendships sails to Haiti

Most of you know that in the past I have worked with Friendships Unlimited, a Christian humanitarian relief organisation. At this point they are sending their vessel, Integrity, with a load of relief supplies and aid workers to the earthquake devastated nation of Haiti. I highly recommend this organisation, having worked with them in the past including during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, I know they are equipped to bring massively needed relief and supplies to a disaster zone such as this. And with their entirely volunteer crew, every dollar donated goes to the work they do. I want to encourage everyone to visit their website: http://www.friendships.org and check out how you may be able to contribute to the needs of this relief effort. Donations can be made through their website, and tax reciepts can be sent at least to US donors. Friendships has a long standing relationship with the nation of Haiti, having done a number of mercy trips there in the past with their vessels Hope, Mersea, and Spirit of Grace. Perhaps Spirit has been there too. I do not know. At this point it looks like there will be a number of trips made bringing relief supplies for Haiti. Please check out their website. Thank you and God Bless.

Facebook, Friends, and what it all means...

I was going to post this as a "status" on Facebook, but it was too long... So I'll reprint it here... Isn't it funny? I have 387 "friends" on here. About 5 or MAYBE 10 of you I actually talk to or have any regular communication with whatsoever!!! By what standard do we rate someone as a "friend" nowadays? Some of you, I have never even met!!! I just deleted 46 people, not to be mean, but because we met once last year or 15 years ago, does that now make us "friends"? Or maybe we went to high school togeter? Some people I deleted I could not even remember who they were!!! I think it is sad how we often rate friendships these days. Of all the 387 "friends" I still have on here, how many of you have invited me over for dinner or whatever in the last year? How many have been over to my place? A few, but not more than a few. Maybe this should be acknowledged as an "aquaintance list", and our friendships should be stored up in our hearts, instead of in cyberspace!!! Those of you who actually ARE my friends, you know who you are, as do I and as does God. God bless you my friends. I love you. And come by for dinner if your ever in the neighborhood!!! (*Note: If you're just a wierdo who's stalking me on facebook, please don't come by for dinner... Thanks...)

Life Prevails

I love life. Life is beautiful. I took a walk down to the lake this afternoon, and it was so beautifull. Actually the sky was grey with a low ceiling and continuous rain... But it was beautiful. As I stood by the waters edge, I looked out and I saw life, stuggling but overcoming. The lake grasses were mostly yellow and dead, but new fresh ones were coming out between them, ready to take on another year, and overcome the death around them. The bare branches on the the trees were full of buds, ready to break out and form leaves, to clean the air and try to restore life to this world we are destroying... And in the forest, were flowers. As I stood there by the edge of the water, I knew that God brought me there to show me something. That He can and will restore life, even where I can see only death. This gave me a hope which I really needed to feel. To know that those whom I love, who have as yet rejected Gods love, still have a chance... I have always seen those buds in their lives, and those buds, which are formed by God's own hand, contain life. Thank you God for life. Thank you God for hope. Thank you God for your love, which always reaches us, even when we don't see it. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." -John 1:1-5

BC Ferries...

Well I am excited to say I have a job interview tomorrow morning for a position with B.C. Ferries as a deckhand on one of their Saltspring Island based ferries. It's really neat to be here saying this, God has brought everything together in a very awesome way for this to happen. I just finished the basic safety courses last week which are now prerequisites for employment on any Canadian flagged (or international) passenger or cargo ships. The courses were very interesting and involved a lot of hands on training such as liferaft and lifeboat launching and operation, and marine firefighting as well. After the first course I went over to Saltspring Island to apply in person for the job, and then over to Victoria. I was called two days later for the interview. Well I just wanted to let everyone know some of the cool things that are happening here lately. I appreciate your prayers regarding all of this and pray that God blesses you each!

BCIT Marine Campus

Well it has been way too long since I updated this. I was laid off from the fish plant a week or so before Christmas, at which point I returned once again to 100 Mile House, B.C. When I left Friendships it was to come back to Canada to get a job which would help me to dig out of the debt load which has been bogging me down in a sense the last few years. My hope was to get a job in the marine industry and pay down those debts. While unloading fishing boats in Port Hardy was a step in the right direction, It was not paying the bills. I am now enrolled (praise God) in a couple marine safety courses at BCIT's marine campus in North Vancouver. The First one, the Basic Safety Training course, starts on Monday Jan. 19th and lasts one week. The second, Survival Craft, begins Feb. 2nd and lasts 5 days. These courses are both required by Transport Canada to work on any Canadian flagged passenger or cargo vessel. This is the next step for me towards getting a job, or I would rather say career in this industry. In past years I have gathered several years sea time working for Friendships, Marine Reach and Mercy Ships on their various vessels, but for me it will be a first to actually get paid to work on a ship. I am praying for the opportunity of being hired on with B.C. Ferries this spring, and working my way up to becoming a licenced deck officer. Those reading this, I would appreciate your prayers for God's Blessing and direction with this. Know too, though, that in pursueing this, I am not turning my back on the ministry work that has been my life, heart and passion for many years now. This is a bit of a new direction for me, but my main goals are unchanged. That is to know God, to Worship Him, and to bring His love to his children (people). I am pursueing those goals in a new way, but it is very like God to lead us in a new way from that which we have known. Thank you and God Bless you each!