Computers, Worship and Beautiful Places

I try to keep my complaints to a minimum whenever I find myself writing for any kind of audience. It seems to be less than tasteful to offer such an attitude. However, I would like to grumble for a moment about a problem I've been having with my computer. The only way I can keep it alive is to keep it plugged in at all times. So if I unplug it for even a moment it dies. Obviously, there has been much speculation from the computer geeks in my life as to what the problem may be. But until I find the time to get it fixed, this is my struggle. I say all of this because just moments ago I was nearly finished typing some material when my outstretched foot happened upon my computer's power cord. With the slightest of nudges I managed to kill my computer erasing all that I had written. This is not an uncommon occurrence as of lately and it hardly prompts my desire to write at this time.

None-the-less,

This past week we (Kaleo) did something completely out of the ordinary. We went to school. That is correct, after three weeks of fun and adventure we've finally decided to settle down for a bit. Our first class was titled Spiritual Formation. It mainly addressed the various spiritual disciplines that many of us as life long believers have heard time and time again. Examples would include prayer, fasting, meditation, scripture memorization, etc. However, the exciting thing about all of this was that we were taught how to actually use these disciplines effectively. Our professor, Marv Penner, was able to convey this information with an incredible amount of sincerity. His honesty as a teacher enabled many of us to be impacted on a far deeper level than we ever would have thought possible.

Church has been on my mind a lot lately. Not the church in general but my specific church that I attend. Lately Daniel and I have been able to help with the worship. Basically, I've simply been playing along on guitar and Daniel the same on some form of drum. We hope to be able to incorporate more planning and practice in the process but it's becoming more difficult than expected. However, this past Sunday the lady that normally leads offered Daniel and I the opportunity to lead once or twice a month. So this could be a much simpler and more effective method of incorporating new ideas and better structure. Time will tell.

The monday night worship time, which I've just decided needs a proper title, has been going well. The monday before last was a more conventional time of song. We asked people to bring their instruments, whatever they may be, and any music they could muster. We had guitars, a violin, a djembe, a cajon, and I think even a flute at one point. The music went on for quite a while. It was good. // Tonight was much different. We basically just drew pictures. It seems fairly elementary and for a group of college students it was difficult for some people to do. However, people responded really well to it. It was refreshing.

The other day I was walking outside between buildings when I suddenly realized the beauty of the place where I live. Don't get me wrong, I've known of it's beauty all along. But for some reason in that brief moment of commute it became exceptionally evident. I am blessed.

Speaking of beautiful places, we're leaving for Tofino tomorrow to go surfing. Tofino is on the western coast of the island and apparently is a beautiful place. Supposedly there's going to be over twenty foot waves tomorrow. We obviously won't be surfing in those conditions because we would die. But we're excited to be able to see such a spectacle because it's not all that common of an occurrence. We'll be there for a few days and the waves are supposed to calm down quite a bit so we should still get some decent time in the water.

As for now, I must pack.